Prevention Of Infectious Diseases Research Articles

Vaccinomics and adversomics: key elements for a personalized vaccinology.

Vaccines are one of the most important and effective tools in the prevention of infectious diseases and research about all the aspects of vaccinology are essential to increase the number of available vaccines more and more safe and effective. Despite the unquestionable value of vaccinations, vaccine hesitancy has spread worldwide compromising the success of vaccinations. Currently, the main purpose of vaccination campaigns is the immunization of whole populations with the same vaccine formulations and schedules for all individuals. A personalized vaccinology approach could improve modern vaccinology counteracting vaccine hesitancy and giving great benefits for human health. This ambitious purpose would be possible by facing and deepening the areas of vaccinomics and adversomics, two innovative areas of study investigating the role of a series of variables able to influence the immune response to vaccinations and the development of serious side effects, respectively. We reviewed the recent scientific knowledge about these innovative sciences focusing on genetic and non-genetic basis involved in the individual response to vaccines in terms of both immune response and side effects.

Twenty Years of Progress and the Way Forward: Immunization Registry Information System in Korea.

The National Immunization Program in The Republic of Korea offers mandatory and free vaccinations to children under 12, regulated by the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act. Tracking vaccination coverage is crucial for population protection and public health strategies. Since 2002, the Immunization Registry Information System (IRIS) has been used nationwide to capture vaccination data. This study reviewed documents related to IRIS's establishment and development. The Republic of Korea legally supports IRIS's construction and data collection, integrating vaccination data with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's resident registration to minimize errors. This collaboration also facilitates cost reimbursement and digital registration, promoting wider vaccination coverage. IRIS manages expense claims once vaccination details are logged, and authorized medical institutions can access these records in real-time. Since 2015, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has been compiling annual data on national vaccination coverage. IRIS also sends automated reminders in 12 languages, reports adverse effects, and issues vaccination certificates. However, IRIS lacks integration between vaccine and disease registries, unlike countries such as England, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Improving integration capabilities could enhance IRIS's support for public health through an integrated information system.

Infectious diseases prevention and control with reduced energy consumption in an airport

The COVID-19 pandemic threatened the world. As an important transportation hub connecting countries and regions, airports have played a critical role in COVID-19 prevention and control. This study developed an infection risk-human comfort-energy consumption model to calculate the COVID-19 transmission and energy consumption for epidemic prevention and control in seven different functional areas of an airport during different seasons (winter, summer, and transition season) and actual passenger movement. When considering dynamic passenger flow, the energy consumption needed to prevent and control transmission of the epidemic in each area of the airport could be reduced by 71–85 %. The waiting, dining, and shopping areas were the areas with the highest energy consumption, accounting for 25–47 %, 15–32 %, and 11–38 % of the total energy consumption of epidemic prevention at the airport, respectively. The dining area had the highest energy consumption per square meter, reaching 14.2 kWh/m2 at its highest. After closing the dining area, energy consumption was reduced by 14–20 %. Compared with strict epidemic prevention and control, energy consumption in the airport was reduced by 70–85 % considering both optimized intervention and dynamic passenger flow. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for energy-saving and emission reduction in airports under an epidemic situation.

Strengthening medical facility responses to respiratory infectious diseases: Global trends, challenges, and innovations post-COVID-19.

Respiratory infectious diseases have long been a serious public health problem. This study explores the significance of respiratory infectious disease prevention and control systems worldwide, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The epidemiology of many respiratory diseases such as influenza changed over the past two years, and the incidence of pathogens such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Bordetella pertussis has also increased. Based on influenza surveillance data in China, the influenza season in 2023 was notably delayed and extended, with A(H1N1) pdm09 being the predominant strain. This editorial also reviewed the gradual establishment of China's infectious disease prevention and control system following the 2003 SARS outbreak, highlighting the role of medical facilities in managing public health emergencies, conducting infectious disease pre-screening, and reporting cases to networks in real time. In the future, China will further develop an intelligent, multi-trigger infectious disease surveillance and early warning system to increase the early detection of unknown infectious diseases and optimize the allocation of medical resources. A robust infectious disease control system is crucial to addressing future pandemic threats.

Application of traditional Chinese herbal medicine in the prevention and treatment of swine viral infectious diseases

Application of traditional Chinese herbal medicine in the prevention and treatment of swine viral infectious diseases

Advancements, challenges, and future perspectives in developing feline herpesvirus 1 as a vaccine vector.

As the most prevalent companion animal, cats are threatened by numerous infectious diseases and carry zoonotic pathogens such as Toxoplasma gondii and Bartonella henselae, which are the primary causes of human toxoplasmosis and cat-scratch disease. Vaccines play a crucial role in preventing and controlling the spread of diseases in both humans and animals. Currently, there are only three core vaccines available to prevent feline panleukopenia, feline herpesvirus, and feline calicivirus infections, with few vaccines available for other significant feline infectious and zoonotic diseases. Feline herpesvirus, a major component of the core vaccine, offers several advantages and a stable genetic manipulation platform, making it an ideal model for vaccine vector development to prevent and control feline infectious diseases. This paper reviews the technologies involved in the research and development of the feline herpesvirus vaccine vector, including homologous recombination, CRISPR/Cas9, and bacterial artificial chromosomes. It also examines the design and effectiveness of expressing antigens of other pathogens using the feline herpesvirus as a vaccine vector. Additionally, the paper analyzes existing technical bottlenecks and challenges, providing an outlook on its application prospects. The aim of this review is to provide a scientific basis for the research and development of feline herpesvirus as a vaccine vector and to offer new ideas for the prevention and control of significant feline infectious and zoonotic diseases.

Advanced vaccinomic, immunoinformatic, and molecular modeling strategies for designing Multi- epitope vaccines against the Enterobacter cloacae complex.

The increasing and ongoing issue of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is of huge concern globally, mainly to healthcare facilities. It is now crucial to develop a vaccine for therapeutic and preventive purposes against the bacterial species causing hospital-based infections. Among the many antibiotic- resistant bacterial pathogens, the Enterobacter cloacae complex (ECC) including six species, E. Colcae, E. absuriae, E. kobie, E. hormaechei, E. ludwigii, and E. nimipressuralis, are dangerous to public health and may worsen the situation. Vaccination plays a vital role in the prevention of infections and infectious diseases. This research highlighted the construction and design of a multi-epitope vaccine for the E. cloacae complex by retrieving their complete sequenced proteome. The retrieved proteome was assessed to opt for potential vaccine candidates using immunoinformatic tools. Both B and T-cell epitopes were predicted in order to create both humoral and cellular immunity and further scrutinized for antigenicity, allergenicity, water solubility, and toxicity analysis. The final potential epitopes were subjected to population coverage analysis. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class combined, and MHC Class I and II world population coverage was obtained as 99.74%, and 98.55% respectively while a combined 81.81% was covered. A multi-epitope peptide-based vaccine construct consisting of the adjuvant, epitopes, and linkers was subjected to the ProtParam tool to calculate its physiochemical properties. The total amino acids were 236, the molecular weight was 27.64kd, and the vaccine construct was stable with an instability index of 27.01. The Grand Average of Hydropathy (GRAVY) (hydrophilicity) value obtained was -0.659, being more negative and depicting the hydrophilic character. It was non-allergen antigenic with an antigenicity of 0.8913. The vaccine construct was further validated for binding efficacy with immune cell receptors MHC-I, MHC-II, and Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4. The molecular docking results depict that the designed vaccine has good binding potency with immune receptors crucial for antigen presentation and processing. Among the Vaccine-MHC-I, Vaccine-MHC-II, and Vaccine-TLR-4 complexes, the best-docked poses were identified based on their lowest binding energy scores of -886.8, -995.6, and -883.6, respectively. Overall, we observed that the designed vaccine construct can evoke a proper immune response and the construct could help experimental researchers in the formulation of a vaccine against the targeted pathogens.

Quaternary ammonium salt coated air filter for bioaerosol removal from building indoor air

Developing air filters with biocidal ability is important to protect the public from infectious respiratory diseases. A simple spray-coating approach was devised to fabricate antimicrobial air filters to remove bioaerosols. The commercial antimicrobial agent Goldshield 75 was coated on the air filters through covalent immobilization, endowing the fabricated filter with long-lasting biocidal ability. All coated filters significantly inhibited both Gram-positive bacteria (Micrococcus luteus) and Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli). The antibacterial ability of the coated filters is similar to the commercial AeraSafe antibacterial filter. The coated filter showed over 99.9 % antibacterial efficiency 3 months after the application of the coating. Both bacterial and virus filtration efficiencies of coated charged polypropylene filter were higher than 99.9 %. The coating did not have much effect on the NaCl aerosol filtration efficiency of the filters. This simple spray-coating strategy is a practical method for producing antimicrobial air filters for the prevention of infectious respiratory diseases.

Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Regulation of Immunity: Challenges and Opportunities.

The immune system is regulated by a complex set of genetic, molecular, and cellular interactions. Rapid advances in the study of immunity and its network of interactions have been boosted by a spectrum of "omics" technologies that have generated huge amounts of data that have reached the status of big data (BD). With recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI), theoretical and clinical breakthroughs could emerge. Analyses of large data sets with AI tools will allow the formulation of new testable hypotheses open new research avenues and provide innovative strategies for regulating immunity and treating immunological diseases. This includes diagnosis and identification of rare diseases, prevention and treatment of autoimmune diseases, allergic disorders, infectious diseases, metabolomic disorders, cancer, and organ transplantation. However, ethical and regulatory challenges remain as to how these studies will be used to advance our understanding of basic immunology and how immunity might be regulated in health and disease. This will be particularly important for entities in which the complexity of interactions occurring at the same time and multiple cellular pathways have eluded conventional approaches to understanding and treatment. The analyses of BD by AI are likely to be complicated as both positive and negative outcomes of regulating immunity may have important ethical ramifications that need to be considered. We suggest there is an immediate need to develop guidelines as to how the analyses of immunological BD by AI tools should guide immune-based interventions to treat various diseases, prevent infections, and maintain health within an ethical framework.

Application of the Peroxidase‒like Activity of Nanomaterials for the Detection of Pathogenic Bacteria and Viruses.

Infectious diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria and viruses pose a significant threat to human life and well-being. The prompt identification of these pathogens, characterized by speed, accuracy, and efficiency, not only aids in the timely screening of infected individuals and the prevention of further transmission, but also facilitates the precise diagnosis and treatment of patients. Direct smear microscopy, microbial culture, nucleic acid-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on microbial surface antigens or human serum antibodies, have made substantial contributions to the prevention and management of infectious diseases. Due to its shorter processing time, simple equipment requirements, and no need for professional and technical personnel, ELISA has inherent advantages over other methods for detecting pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Horseradish peroxidase mediated catalysis of substrate coloration is the key for the detection of target substances in ELISA. However, the variability, high cost, and environmental susceptibility of natural peroxidase greatly limit the application of ELISA in pathogen detection. Compared with natural enzymes, nanomaterials with enzyme-mimicking activity are inexpensive, highly environmentally stable, easy to store and mass producing, etc. Based on their peroxidase-like activities and unique physicochemical properties, nanomaterials can greatly improve the efficiency and ease of use of ELISA-like detection methods for pathogenic bacteria and viruses. This review introduces recent advances in the application of nanomaterials with peroxidase-like activity for the detection of pathogenic bacteria (both gram-negative bacteria and gram-positive bacteria) and viruses (both RNA viruses and DNA viruses). The emphasis is on the detection principle and the evaluation of effectiveness. The limitations and prospects for future translations are also discussed.

Trends in Respiratory Infectious Pathogens in Children Under the Age of 14 - Xiamen City, Fujian Province, China, 2017-2023.

Respiratory infections pose a significant burden on public health. Despite recent outbreaks occurring in various locations, there is limited information available on the prevalence trends of multiple common respiratory pathogens in China beyond 2022. A retrospective analysis was conducted on respiratory pathogen infections in a Xiamen hospital over a seven-year period. The analysis revealed fluctuating trends, with the number of infections for certain viruses initially decreasing after 2019, only to rebound to previous or higher levels. Recently, there has been an observed collective increase in positive cases for certain pathogens. The study improves understanding of respiratory pathogens, primarily in Xiamen, with potential implications for the improvement of strategies for the prevention and management of respiratory infectious diseases.

Psychological responses and factors associated with depression and anxiety in entry personnel under quarantine during pandemic in China.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted critical concerns surrounding mental health. Social isolation measures, such as the quarantine of incoming travelers, are essential public health strategies for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. However, quarantine can lead to adverse psychological outcomes, including feelings of confinement, boredom, perceived scarcity of supplies and information, financial hardship, and social stigma. This study aims to assess the mental states of quarantined individuals, investigate the factors affecting their mental well-being, and examine their coping mechanisms, with the objective of providing recommendations to enhance mental health in anticipation of future outbreaks, such as Disease X. We surveyed 327 individuals in quarantine from September 22, 2020 to January 9, 2021, collecting general demographic data and information related to COVID-19. Depression and anxiety were assessed using the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scales, respectively, while stress coping was evaluated with a simplified version of the Cope scale. We analyzed the relationships between independent variables and mental health outcomes. Among the individuals undergoing entry quarantine, 27.8% reported symptoms of depression, and 20.5% reported symptoms of anxiety. Students were more likely to experience depression compared to those with permanent jobs or no occupation. Significant risk factors for both depression and anxiety included pre-existing health conditions, lack of medical insurance, concerns about shortages of daily necessities during quarantine, and high scores for "guilt and self-blame." Additionally, participants who worried about the impact of the epidemic on their studies or work, and those with high scores for "denial," were more likely to exhibit depressive symptoms. On the other hand, participants who were concerned about potential rejection or discrimination from the outside world after quarantine were more prone to anxiety symptoms. Attention should be paid to the negative psychological reactions of the entry quarantined personnel, especially those with pre-existing health conditions, those without medical insurance, and students studying abroad. Accurate and effective epidemic dynamic information and preventive and control measures can be provided to the public to prevent fear and stigma against quarantined personnel.

Defining correlates of protection for mammalian livestock vaccines against high-priority viral diseases.

Enhancing livestock biosecurity is critical to safeguard the livelihoods of farmers, global and local economies, and food security. Vaccination is fundamental to the control and prevention of exotic and endemic high-priority infectious livestock diseases. Successful implementation of vaccination in a biosecurity plan is underpinned by a strong understanding of correlates of protection-those elements of the immune response that can reliably predict the level of protection from viral challenge. While correlates of protection have been successfully characterized for many human viral vaccines, for many high-priority livestock viral diseases, including African swine fever and foot and mouth disease, they remain largely uncharacterized. Current literature provides insights into potential correlates of protection that should be assessed during vaccine development for these high-priority mammalian livestock viral diseases. Establishment of correlates of protection for biosecurity purposes enables immune surveillance, rationale for vaccine development, and successful implementation of livestock vaccines as part of a biosecurity strategy.

Comparative analysis of state-level policy responses in global health governance: A scoping review using COVID-19 as a case.

States are key actors in global health governance, particularly in the prevention and control of infectious diseases. The emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases in recent decades pose profound challenges to global health security. As the first coronavirus pandemic, the COVID-19 caused significant damage worldwide, but responses and outcomes varied greatly among states. Using COVID-19 as an example, this study aims to compare the policies and measures implemented by different states during the COVID-19 pandemic and to synthesize experiences to strengthen global health governance for future infectious disease crises. We used Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage scoping review framework and PRISMA methodology was used for literature search and decision on relevant studies. English databases were searched using combinations of keywords and articles examining COVID-19 prevention and control policies in representative countries were included. A comparative analysis across these four states (United States, Sweden, India, and Nigeria) was then conducted to analyse the differences, rationale, and challenges of the approaches taken by these states. A total of 36 studies were included in the analysis. The management of the COVID-19 by states is divided into two main categories: domestic governance and international governance. Domestically, the United States and India have taken more measures, yet notable disparities in infection source control, transmission interruption, vulnerable population protection, collaborative governance, and so on were observed among all four states. Globally, the United States and Sweden were more proactive in international governance, and all four states have variations in their adherence to global regulations, information sharing, resource distribution, and cooperative engagement. Significant disparities occurred during the response to early COVID-19 in four states, which may be due to differences in politics, economy, and culture. To prevent and mitigate the impact of infectious diseases, states should, in future, prioritize solidarity and cooperation, and improve governance domestically and internationally based on national contexts and global health principles.

Comprehensive approach to rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19. (A literature review)

To analyze the work results of the rehabilitation units dealing with patients who have suffered from COVID-19, in order to summarize the used approaches to medical rehabilitation and improve the effectiveness of care delivery in the recovery phase. Currently, the rehabilitation system has been effectively rebuilt to meet new challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recovery of patients with pronounced neurotic disorders has become a showing good results direction in rehabilitation. It is necessary to implement a tight integration of physical exercises and telerehabilitation facilities in order to effectively settle the main issues directly related to the treatment and recovery of patients with COVID-19 and other pathologies. The control, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of other infectious diseases will have great prospects regarding the possibility of remote follow-up of patients and correction of their functional state of the body in the nearest future.

DATA COLLECTION PROTOCOL FOR ORAL CORPUS OF MAJOR DEPRESSION DISORDER PATIENT

The collecting of oral data involving mental health patients in hospitals demands research ethics approval to mitigate risks or harm towards participants of the study. The appointment of psychiatric experts as clinical supervisors is imperative to facilitate the process of data collection through interviews, particularly with patients diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The process of obtaining permission to access hospitals and interview patients involves research ethics approval from the Research Management and Innovation Centre, Sultan Idris Education University (RMIC-UPSI), and the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC-MREC). A total of 35 MDD patients were interviewed according to the study protocol and interview guidelines. The interview protocol is also subject to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia. The transcribed interview data can amount to 65,894 words when extracted into WordSmith 8.0 software. Overall, this data collection process encompasses, appointment of psychiatric experts as clinical supervisors, research ethics approval and field data collection protocols.

Blurring Boundaries: A Proposed Research Agenda for Ethical, Legal, Social, and Historical Studies at the Intersection of Infectious and Genetic Disease.

Contemporary understanding of the mechanisms of disease increasingly points to examples of "genetic diseases" with an infectious component and of "infectious diseases" with a genetic component. Such blurred boundaries generate ethical, legal, and social issues and highlight historical contexts that must be examined when incorporating host genomic information into the prevention, outbreak control, and treatment of infectious diseases.

Risk of COVID-19 transmission on long-haul flights: During the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aimed to determine the possibility of COVID-19 transmission through in-flight contact during flights for many patients with confirmed COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore infection prevention and control (IPC) methods for overseas infectious diseases. A retrospective cohort study was conducted on flight with a large number of confirmed case among. Delhi- Incheon flights in 2020. This flight was selected to confirm transmission through close contact with the cabin, with a total of 14 confirmed cases out of 190 passengers (including 10 flight attendants). After confirming COVID-19 test results for those entering Korea, we conducted an epidemiological investigation on confirmed patients to determine their general characteristics and epidemiological relevance. We analyzed the epidemiological relevance, occupational information, incubation period, and COVID-19 variation and genotype among confirmed patients who were in close contact with confirmed cases, and analyzed the possibility of transmission according to the distance of close contact in the flight. One confirmed patient was found to be highly likely to be infected due to close contact with the cabin. However, it occurred within two rows, not within 1 meter. In addition, considering the aerodynamics in the cabin and local incidence rate, infection in an unspecified number of local people could not be excluded. It was analyzed that the reason for reducing infection from close contact on board for a long time in a flight with a large number of confirmed cases was the effective IPC method. In order to prevent overseas infectious diseases caused by flights, autonomous IPC management of airlines and passengers is necessary in addition to national quarantine management such as symptom screening before boarding, wearing passenger masks while boarding, food and beverage restrictions, disinfection of public spaces, distancing between passengers, close contact management after boarding, and self-quarantine.

Fuzzy adaptive resonance theory failure mode effect analysis non-healthcare setting for infectious disease: review

<span>Fuzzy adaptive resonance theory (ART) is an ART network that is developed as one of the alternative methods to evaluate risk priority number (RPN) in failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA). Not only is FMEA are common technique as an analysis tool in industrial sectors, but also, especially during the global emergency COVID-19 pandemic hits, FMEA is used in prevention and mitigation measures. Many alternative methods have been proposed. However, not many investigations use clustering models such as Fuzzy ART in FMEA. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review and then propose a model for systematic risk analysis which implement the fuzzy ART model, named clustering- transmission causes and effects analysis (c-TCEA), for the prevention and mitigation of infectious diseases.</span>

A Dynamic Model of Information‐Vaccination‐Disease That Accounts for Emerging Viral Variants: Model Development and a Case Study for COVID‐19 in Iceland

Pathogens mutate as diseases spread, and variants that become epidemic or pandemic strains have higher transmission rates and a greater capacity to escape vaccine protection. Considering different vaccine efficacy and vaccination rates is of great significance for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. The spread of vaccination information and the level of trust in vaccinations determine whether people will choose to be vaccinated. To analyze these factors, we developed mean‐field equations for system dynamics to model the complex system of vaccine information dissemination and vaccination, calculated the basic reproduction rate number, and used the Icelandic COVID‐19 outbreak (Omicron variant) as a case study. We found that in the face of emerging variants, increasing vaccine efficacy is more effective than increasing vaccination rates. If vaccine efficacy increases from 40% to 90%, infections can be decreased by 98.5%. However, even a 100% vaccination rate cannot stop the spread of a mutated virus if vaccine efficacy falls below a certain level. High vaccination rates decrease the virus transmission rate. If the efficacy of the vaccine diminishes, the infection will spread rapidly, leading to a greater number of individuals becoming infected with the infectious disease. Due to the high vaccine efficacy against major illnesses and fatalities, improving vaccination rates can lower deaths. Iceland could decrease deaths by 44.8% by raising the vaccination rate from 75.9% to 95.0%. To combat emerging virus variants, it is therefore necessary to both create more effective vaccines and raise awareness of the benefits of vaccination to increase vaccination rates.