Sanitary Inspector Research Articles

N.A. Semashko on the management of preventive measures to preserve and improve the health of citizens (to the 150th anniversary of his birth)

On September 21, 2024, the medical community celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Semashko, an outstanding manager of Russian healthcare, a scientist and teacher in the field of social hygiene. The results of his work in creating a new healthcare system in difficult conditions, one of the main principles of which is prevention, is highly appreciated by the World Health Organization and is known all over the world. To study the main directions of the prevention of various diseases over the first half of the twentieth century, there were analyzed the scientific works of N.A. Semashko, located in the electronic scientific libraries eLibrary, CyberLeninka, Scopus, Web of Science, the Central Scientific Medical Library, and the Russian State Library. N.A. Semashko considered prevention a priority in the activities of not only health professionals, but also other state and public organizations, as well as the citizens themselves in maintaining and strengthening their health. For its implementation, he recommended using various approaches, including improving the activities of sanitary organizations and medical institutions, developing dispensaries, the district principle of work, involving sanitary inspectors in joint activities with doctors and conducting health education of the population. Conclusions. Justified by N.A. Semashko in scientific works and the main directions of preventive medicine implemented in practice contributed to the elimination of epidemics, a decrease in the level of morbidity and mortality of the population, and therefore this experience should be taken into account and used in modern conditions.

Региональные аспекты оценки результативности и эффективности риск-ориентированной модели контрольно-надзорной деятельности в сфере обеспечения санитарно-эпидемиологического благополучия населения

This research is relevant since it is important to assess performance and effectiveness of activities performed by Rospotrebnadzor bodies and organizations in RF regions. The aim of this study was to assess performance and effectiveness of control and surveillance activities performed by a territorial office of Rospotrebnadzor given the current reduction in scheduled inspections. Control and surveillance activities performed by the Rospotrebnadzor Rostov Regional Office in 2023 were selected as the research object. They were aimed at improving the quality of the environment for the region population and indirectly at reducing population incidence and mortality associated with exposures to harmful risk factors represented by ambient air, water, and soil pollution etc. The study was accomplished relying on methodical instruments developed by the Federal Scientific Center for Medical and Preventive Health Risk Management Technologies and approved by the RF Chief Sanitary Inspector. The basic methodology establishes rules for calculating economic losses associated with population mortality and incidence (children, working age population and population older than working age) caused by environmental exposures. Calculations were based on the results of instrumental measurements of the environment quality in cities in the Rostov region and the results of scheduled and off-schedule control activities performed by the Rospotrebnadzor Rostov Regional Office in 2023. It was established that control and surveillance activities performed by the Service managed to prevent approximately 1760 deaths and more than 152.4 thousand diseases, which could actually occur should the Service fail to perform its regulatory actions. The total prevented economic losses equaled approximately 2.1 billion rubles in 2023. Economic effectiveness was established relying on prevented losses of the gross regional product and equaled 7.25 rubles per 1 spent ruble in 2023 prices. There are several promising trends in the scientific and methodical support provided by practical activities performed by Rospotrebnadzor. They include development and implementation of methodical approaches to assessing effectiveness of prevention activities; searching for new approaches to assessing performance and effectiveness of other activities accomplished by the Service (licensing, registration of new and hazardous chemicals and products, etc.).

Regional aspects in assessment of performance and effectiveness of the risk-based model for control and surveillance activities in provision of sanitary-epidemiological wellbeing of the population

This research is relevant since it is important to assess performance and effectiveness of activities performed by Rospotrebnadzor bodies and organizations in RF regions. The aim of this study was to assess performance and effectiveness of control and surveillance activities performed by a territorial office of Rospotrebnadzor given the current reduction in scheduled inspections. Control and surveillance activities performed by the Rospotrebnadzor Rostov Regional Office in 2023 were selected as the research object. They were aimed at improving the quality of the environment for the region population and indirectly at reducing population incidence and mortality associated with exposures to harmful risk factors represented by ambient air, water, and soil pollution etc. The study was accomplished relying on methodical instruments developed by the Federal Scientific Center for Medical and Preventive Health Risk Management Technologies and approved by the RF Chief Sanitary Inspector. The basic methodology establishes rules for calculating economic losses associated with population mortality and incidence (children, working age population and population older than working age) caused by environmental exposures. Calculations were based on the results of instrumental measurements of the environment quality in cities in the Rostov region and the results of scheduled and off-schedule control activities performed by the Rospotrebnadzor Rostov Regional Office in 2023. It was established that control and surveillance activities performed by the Service managed to prevent approximately 1760 deaths and more than 152.4 thousand diseases, which could actually occur should the Service fail to perform its regulatory actions. The total prevented economic losses equaled approximately 2.1 billion rubles in 2023. Economic effectiveness was established relying on prevented losses of the gross regional product and equaled 7.25 rubles per 1 spent ruble in 2023 prices. There are several promising trends in the scientific and methodical support provided by practical activities performed by Rospotrebnadzor. They include development and implementation of methodical approaches to assessing effectiveness of prevention activities; searching for new approaches to assessing performance and effectiveness of other activities accomplished by the Service (licensing, registration of new and hazardous chemicals and products, etc.).

History of development of undergraduate public health education in Bulgaria.

The study aims to present a historical review and analysis of the establishment and development of undergraduate public health (PH) education in Bulgaria from 1878 until 2019. А search and selection of historical documents was performed, including laws, rules, regulations, government plans, programmes, scientific publications from periodical medical press, journals, specialized monographs, and books. A retrospective analysis of the normative documents related to the organization of the sanitation and public health activities, and to the provision of professional undergraduate education of the public health workforce in Bulgaria has been carried out. The required competences and tasks of the specialists exercising public health control services were extracted. The development in the public health educational activities were followed in three consecutive periods: the newly independent state (1878-1944); the socialist state (1945-1990); the democratizing state (1990-2019). The development of organized PH activities began after the liberation of Bulgaria in 1878. The historical analysis reveals a direct link between the major socioeconomic changes in the country and the organization of PH undergraduate education which passed through dynamic transformations. The professional education in the sphere of PH started with the training of feldshers, followed by sanitary feldsher and sanitary health inspectors performed in secondary vocational medical schools during the socialist period, reaching the stage of undergraduate university PH education provided by medical colleges associated with universities in the third period. Despite the continuous development in the organization of undergraduate PH education in Bulgaria, its content is still not fully compatible with the basic European PH services and actions. There is a growing need for wider standardization and integration of undergraduate PH education in the EU so that the specialty can reach the status of a regulated health profession similar to medicine, nursing, and others.

COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 as an occupational disease in Poland.

The unexpected outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has led huge impact on health and safety of employees. Although now the epidemiological situation has improved, but it remains a challenge, especially in light of the emergence of new threats. The aim of the work is to present an epidemiological analysis of data on COVID-19 as an occupational disease in Poland. The analysis covered all cases of occupational diseases sent by state sanitary inspectors to the Central Register of Occupational Diseases. The years 2020-2022 and such available data as: age, gender, activities and territorial differentiation were analyzed. The data were presented as absolute numbers and incidence rates per 100 000 employed persons and for healthcare workers also per 100 000 persons authorized to practice. In the period 2020-2022 in Poland 7030 diseases recognized as occupational diseases were recorded, of which almost half were infectious diseases (47%). Among infectious diseases, dominated COVID-19 in number of 2059 cases. In this period 98.6% of all cases of COVID-19 were concentrated in the health care and social activities. According to workplaces, most diseases were caused by working in hospitals - 1825 cases (88.6% of all COVID-19 cases in the healthcare workers). Most cases concerned nurses - 1355 cases (65,8%) and doctors - 212 cases (10,3%). The incidence of COVID-19 in the group of physicians per 10 000 persons entitled to practice ranged from 2.6 in 2020 to 68.3 in 2022, while among nurses and midwives the rates were 7.9 and 194.9, respectively. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the picture of occupational diseases in Poland. Therefore, it is very important to understand the key contributions of people working in environments where workers are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 due to the nature of their work, and to promote the recognition of COVID-19 as an occupational disease. Med Pr Work Health Saf. 2023;74(6):479-86.

Developing the risk-based model of scheduled sanitary-epidemiologic control of prepared food providers

The relevance of the study is determined by a substantial change in the structure of services offered by prepared food providers and a growth in outbreaks of communicable diseases due to violations of the mandatory sanitary-epidemiological requirements by prepared food providers and nutrition units in establishments. The aim of this study was to develop the methodical support for the risk-based model of the sanitary-epidemiological control over economic entities operating as prepared food providers. The study was accomplished following the enquiry of the RF Chief Sanitary Inspector. The general principles of risk calculation and identification of risk categories of an economic activity and production facilities remaining intact, a suggestion is to take a value of a temporary exposure criterion for prepared food providers as equal to 1.0 when determining numbers of exposed population. This is justified since a time of a contact with a potential infectious agent in food is of no significance. In addition to that, the model development entails mandatory consideration of population with risks of negative exposures due to consuming food offered by takeaways. The study results indicate that consideration of takeaway food and correct consideration of people’s contacts with a potentially hazardous infectious agent lead to a substantial increase in levels of health risks. Accordingly, there is a growth in the share of economic entities, which, according to potential risks of health harm for consumers, can be assigned into the categories of ‘extremely high risk’ and / or ‘high risk’ (from 1.3 to 8.2 % and from 1.7 to 32 % accordingly in the Perm oblast and Moscow oblast as two pilot regions).The resulting structure of risk categories economic entities are assigned into is more adequate to the current sanitary-epidemiological situation in the country and provides reliable protection for consumers’ health. The prospects of the model development involve accumulation and science-intense analysis of digital branch and interdepartmental data on the branch functioning, results of control and surveillance activities, and health impairments in population associated with risk factors typical for activities performed by prepared food providers.

Cовершенствование риск-ориентированной модели планового санитарно-эпидемиологического контроля деятельности объектов общественного питания

The relevance of the study is determined by a substantial change in the structure of services offered by prepared food providers and a growth in outbreaks of communicable diseases due to violations of the mandatory sanitary-epidemiological requirements by prepared food providers and nutrition units in establishments. The aim of this study was to develop the methodical support for the risk-based model of the sanitary-epidemiological control over economic entities operating as prepared food providers. The study was accomplished following the enquiry of the RF Chief Sanitary Inspector. The general principles of risk calculation and identification of risk categories of an economic activity and production facilities remaining intact, a suggestion is to take a value of a temporary exposure criterion for prepared food providers as equal to 1.0 when determining numbers of exposed population. This is justified since a time of a contact with a potential infectious agent in food is of no significance. In addition to that, the model development entails mandatory consideration of population with risks of negative exposures due to consuming food offered by takeaways. The study results indicate that consideration of takeaway food and correct consideration of people’s contacts with a potentially hazardous infectious agent lead to a substantial increase in levels of health risks. Accordingly, there is a growth in the share of economic entities, which, according to potential risks of health harm for consumers, can be assigned into the categories of ‘extremely high risk’ and / or ‘high risk’ (from 1.3 to 8.2 % and from 1.7 to 32 % accordingly in the Perm oblast and Moscow oblast as two pilot regions).The resulting structure of risk categories economic entities are assigned into is more adequate to the current sanitary-epidemiological situation in the country and provides reliable protection for consumers’ health. The prospects of the model development involve accumulation and science-intense analysis of digital branch and interdepartmental data on the branch functioning, results of control and surveillance activities, and health impairments in population associated with risk factors typical for activities performed by prepared food providers.

Effects of Cassava Effluents on the Soil Physicochemical Properties and Water Quality in Ibarapa Region, Oyo State, Southwestern, Nigeria

Purpose: This study investigated the effects of cassava effluents on the soil physicochemical properties and water quality in Ibarapa Region Southwestern, Nigeria.
 Methodology: Three Cassava Processing Sites (CPSs) and Control Sites (CSs) of 5m by 5m quadrant and three wells of varying distances to the CPSs were randomly selected in each of the three local government areas in Ibarapa Region. In all, nine CPSs, nine CSs and nine wells (SPs) were sampled during the dry season. The soil and water samples collected were subjected to laboratory analysis for physicochemical and bacteriological characteristics. The spatial distribution of the CPSs was determined using GIS techniques and Nearest Neighbour Statistic.
 Findings: The results showed that the CPSs distribution was significantly dispersed. However, that distance to the cassava processing sites impacted on the concentration of parameters tested. Analysis of the soil properties showed that the pH values were higher at the CPSs, elevated values of heavy metals were also noticed and cyanide concentration. Analysis of water quality in some of the sampled wells showed that the water samples were mainly within the WHO permissible standard except higher values recorded for heavy metals in SP 2 and elevated cyanide in SPs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 which were in close proximity to the processing sites. Bacteriological analysis also revealed that only SP 2 had the presence of Coliform Escherichia coli.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The findings alluded to the inherent danger in man’s defective interaction with the environment. Hence, the study to a great extent could trigger appropriate measures in soil, water and waste management by stakeholders. Such measure could include treatment of cassava effluents before being dumped in to the environment as well as treating water before being consumed. Governments through her agencies such as the NAFDAC and sanitary inspectors should monitor the activities of these gari, fufu, lafun and tapioca makers especially about the discharge of cassava effluents.

Knowledge Level and Attitude of Artisanal Fishermen towards Covid-19 prevention in fishing Communities in Eket Agricultural zone, Nigeria

The study assessed artisanal fishermen level of knowledge and attitude towards Covid-19 prevention in Eket Agricultural Zone of Akwa Ibom State. Data were obtained from 120 fishermen using multi-stage sampling procedure and analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. Results showed that majority (95.8%) of artisanal fishermen were aware that COVID-19 can be prevented. On the mode of prevention 91.7% of the respondents had high knowledge on avoiding contact by wearing facemask. Results revealed that artisanal fishermen had positive attitude (83.8%) in terms of isolating themselves from infected persons, while poor attitude of fishermen were revealed towards taking Covid-19 vaccine (75%). Findings further showed that gender (p > 0.01), education (p > 0.01), extension contact (p > 0.01) and cooperative membership (p > 0.05) were positive and significantly influence fishermen level of knowledge. The major determinants of fishermen attitude were age (p > 0.1), education (p > 0.01), and accessed to extension contact (p > 0.01). The study recommended that educational interventions should be reinforced to enhance fishermen’s willingness to take preventive actions in the future. Sanitary and health inspectors should engage the community in general sanitation campaigns. Government at all levels through the Ministry of Health should embark on continued awareness campaigns among the fishing communities to improve their knowledge of preventive measures towards Covid-19.

Occurrence and Distribution of Dengue-Causing Mosquito in Iligan City and Its Implication to Environmental Management

The occurrence and geographic distribution of Aedesaegypti mosquito was assessed in different barangays of Iligan City. This mosquito species is known to be the carrier of dengue virus that cause deaths among the constituents of Iligan City. Standard collection and identification of mosquito larval specimens were done at Iligan City Sanitary Inspector’s laboratory. Results showed that majority of dengue-carrying mosquito species, Aedesaegypti were collected and identified apart from Aedesalbopictus, known as a secondary dengue virus carrier. Overall, larval specimens ofA.aegypti had the highest number with a total of 240 individuals per sample collected in the six sampling barangays, whereas A.albopictus had a total of 90 individuals. This number of individuals of dengue-carrying species of mosquitoes might put the barangays of Iligan City at potential risks of dengue occurrence and eventual adverse impacts to the constituents. Hence, it is imperative to increase the level of awareness among the constituents and do some preventive measures such as regular clean up and other concerted efforts of the health authorities, government, private sector, academe and other sectors.

Security of Polish penitentiary units of the Prison Service in the face of the COVID-19 virus

ObjectivesThe aim of the article is do demonstrate the importance of the roles and tasks of officers and civil servants of the Prison Service, who in the face of the COVID-19 virus take actions which affect on peace and safety inside penitentiary units, which translates into internal state security.MethodsThe publication uses a method for examining documents and literature.ResultsThe analysis of documents and literature has revealed the principles of the functioning of individual organizational units in prisons and detention centers in times of pandemic. Logistics activities, which are carried out by officers and civilian staff of the Prison Service have been identified, starting with a wide range of tasks relating to the provision of social and living conditions, penitentiary, protective, accountancy activities, through appropriate medical care.ConclusionsThe Prison Service, despite the constantly changing pandemic reality, continues to be guided by the values and principles set out in the legislation. One of the key laws in the law of 9 April 2010 on Prison Service and the law of 6 June 1997 on the Code of Criminal procedure. Officers and civil servants, who by following the number of regulations and also information and guidelines – published by the Main Sanitary Inspector and also orders issued by superiors to prevent COVID-19 spreading – protect the lives and health of people in prisons. The tasks performed translate into peace and security in penitentiary units and have a significant impact on the internal security of the State.

Impact on Kayakalp scores after undertaking of a primary health center by community medicine dept. of a medical college of J and K.

To complement the Swachhata Abhiyaan effort, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, initiated "KAYAKALP." Kayakalp is an initiative to improve the cleanliness, hygiene, and sanitation of public health facilities by recognizing and giving awards to those who exhibit a high level of cleanliness, hygiene, and infection control. Our study aimed to assess the level of cleanliness, hygiene, and infection control practices in the health care facility after undertaking by the department of Community Medicine of a medical college. A retrospective comparative observational study was conducted at RHTC in the Kathua district of UT J and K. We compare the level of cleanliness, hygiene, and infection control practices using the Kayakalp scoring tool before and after taking over by the department of Community Medicine of a medical college. The scoring for various areas of concern is based on a checklist for quality assessment which includes facility upkeep, sanitation and hygiene, waste management, and infection control. The total scores vary before and after undertaking of a Primary Health Center (PHC) by the Community Medicine Department of new medical college of J and K. Overall scores vary from the baseline score of 56% before to 84% now after 2 years of the undertaking. Resource management and capacity building under the guidance of public health professionals can result in a significant increase in hygiene, cleanliness, and infection control. So integrated approach involves public health specialists and other medical professionals like medical officers, field workers, sanitary inspectors. etc., can be helpful in recognizing the challenges and barriers.

Components Implementation and Integration For Decision Support in Food-Borne Decease Epidemy

The article describes the implementation of applications dedicated for conducting interviews with patients and inspection of food serving and selling objects during an epidemic of foodborne diseases. Interviews with patients and objects inspections must be conducted in a relatively short time. Then, the dates, places and nutritional content of eating food are determined within a fixed number of days before the first symptoms of illness. The people with whom the food was eaten are also recorded. The number of patients to be interviewed is relatively large compared to the number of sanitary inspectors. Therefore, there is a need to establish a schedule for interviews. This must be done in the shortest possible time to determine the sources of spreading the disease as quickly as possible. Every day, new patients arrive dynamically, so the process of modifying the interview schedule is permanent. In result of interview the list of objects to inspected is received. Such a problem for epidemics of foodborne diseases is not considered in the literature.

The first steps of the Zemstvo sanitary inspector N. A. Semashko in fight with epidemics in the Novouzensk Uyezd of the Samara Guberniya

The personality of N. A. Semashko presents incontestable interest as health care official and ideologist of the Soviet health care system who contributed significantly into development of health care. Great number of studies are devoted to analysis of activities of N. A. Semashko in the Soviet period holding position of the First People's Commissar of health care of the RSFSR, initiator and head of the chair of Social hygiene of the Medical Faculty of the First Moscow State University. The studies related to pre-revolutionary period of life of N. A. Semashko are presented in less degree. The article describes, on the basis of publications and archive sources (documents from the Central State Archive of the Samara Oblast, the foundations of the Russian State Library and also the family archive of E. G. Farobina, grand-daughter of N. A. Semashko) the period of life and and activity of N. A. Semashko in the Samara Gubernia after graduating the medical faculty of the Imperial Kazan University. In 1901-1902, after short training in bacteriological laboratory of the Samara Gubernia Zemstvo Hospital and appointment to the post of sanitary and epidemiological doctor of the Zemstvo, N. A. Semashko was directly involved in elimination of epidemics of diphtheria in Orlov Guy village and of anthrax in Alexandria village of the Novouzensky Uezd. The dangerous epidemics were eliminated owing to outstanding medical knowledge, courage and organizational skills of young doctor.

Legal and organizational aspects of the implementation of immunization in Poland after the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction. Reducing the transmission of infectious diseases both among vaccinated individuals and the general population is only possible with the introduction of mandatory vaccination. The purpose of this article is to analyze the normative acts in force in the territory of the Republic of Poland, regulating mandatory and recommended immunizations. State of the art description. In Poland, immunization is mandatory and carried out in accordance with the Immunization Program for children and adolescents up to the age of 19, and persons particularly vulnerable to disease are published annually as a communiqué of the Chief Sanitary Inspector in the Official Journal of the Minister of Health. The issue of recommended immunizations is clarified by the Regulation of the Minister of Health of September 16, 2010, on the list of recommended immunizations and how to finance and document recommended immunizations required by international health regulations. According to Article 17(6) of the Law, vaccination may be performed by a doctor, feldsher, nurse, midwife, and school hygienist, as long as they have the appropriate qualifications. These qualifications are described in detail in the Ordinance of the Minister of Health of August 18, 2011, on mandatory immunization. According to Article 16 of the Law on Patient Rights and Patient Ombudsman, every patient has the right both to consent and to refuse certain health services. Conclusion. Immunization on the territory of the Republic of Poland is mandatory and is subject to legal regulation in the form of laws, regulations, and announcements, cited above. The exceptions are recommended vaccinations and COVID-19 vaccination, which are voluntary but are also legally normalized.

История становления санитарного нормирования в отечественном жилищном строительстве в первой трети ХХ века

Introduction. The author analyzes principal relevant state programmes dealing with housing construction. Researchers specializing in different areas of knowledge focus on the problem of preservation and, if possible, improvement of sanitary and hygienic characteristics of housing construction. It is the maintenance of sufficient values of pre-set indicators and their well-organized control can guarantee comfortable and safe living conditions. Materials and methods. The step-by-step analysis was performed and the principal official documents were subsequently compared to get an exhaustive idea of the evolution of sanitary and hygienic standardization in the housing construction. Results. The analysis of the pre-revolutionary legislation and fundamental materials on housing construction has revealed that the main task of standardization was to prevent urban fires and ensure the adherence to private property rights. At this stage, sanitary engineers issued their first proposals concerning lighting, insolation, and ventilation standards. Immediately after the revolution, standardization was applied to distribute the available housing stock. Mass housing construction stan­dards needed revisions as new construction projects were launched. The predominance of low-rise construction projects pre-set the development and approval of standards applicable to this type of buildings. Later these norms were applied to the urban construction of residential buildings. Archival materials provided more information about the development and adoption of the main legislative acts in this area. Conclusions. Conclusions are drawn about the key role of sanitary inspectors in the development of basic sanitary and hygienic requirements in housing construction. Only their status of national legislative acts can ensure their compliance in the construction industry. At the present stage, the preservation of these standards is the only way to ensure safe living conditions in terms of numerous urban multi-storey construction projects.

Elaboration and validity of an instrument for assessing good handling practices for fishmongers to guide the sanitary surveillance in Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil

Fish consumption has increased in recent years due to the increased supply and awareness of the health benefits of fish proteins. Fresh fish and its products can be purchased in fish retail trades known as fishmongers. However, there is no specific regulation in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS)/Brazil to provide a checklist for the inspection of fishmongers. Thus, this study aimed to elaborate and validate a complete easy-to-use checklist of good handling practices for fishmongers (LVBPMP) to assist municipal sanitary inspectors of these establishments. For that, 11 health inspection scripts focused on fishmongers were consulted, concerning municipal, state, federal, and international regulations, resulting in 1,188 items analyzed. Of these, 74 items were selected and divided into six categories according to current Brazilian legislation. A pre-test was carried out on two fishmongers in Porto Alegre/RS, and then the LVBPMP was analyzed by a committee of six experts for the face validity of the instrument. The validated LVBPMP comprised 84 items. LVBPM proved to be a complete and objective instrument to guide the sanitary surveillance staff in the inspection of fishmongers, allowing its use by regulatory agencies to assist the municipal sanitary inspectors of fishmongers in the RS state.

One Health risk challenges and preparedness regarding bovine tuberculosis at abattoirs in North-central Nigeria: Associated drivers and health belief.

BackgroundBovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a serious public health and neglected zoonotic disease responsible for 147,000 human cases and 12,500 deaths annually. This study assessed knowledge, risk perceptions, and preventive practices regarding bTB among occupationally exposed abattoir workers and drivers for transmission in slaughterhouses.MethodsUsing a pre-tested questionnaire, we surveyed a cross-section of workers in five main abattoirs in North-central Nigeria between 2018 and 2019. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and univariable/multivariable logistic regression analyses at a 95% confidence level.ResultsAll recruited respondents (n = 422: 77.7% meat processors and 22.3% meat and sanitary inspectors) participated and 10.4% had no formal education. About 44.0% and 27.0% of workers knew about bTB occurrence at the abattoirs and its transmission to humans, respectively. Less than one-third use personal protective equipment (PPE) during meat handling, only a few workers correctly practised routine handwashing, and 21.8% sterilized meat handling tools. A few participants (6.4%) had BCG vaccination against tuberculosis. Demographic characteristics (age, gender, occupation, and formal education) significantly influenced the perception and practices about bTB. A few workers perceived raw meat and milk, direct contact with infected carcasses, organs and contaminated fomites, contaminated environment through infected blood, dirty slaughtering floor, and aerosols of contaminated faeces as high-risk bTB transmission routes. Perceived drivers that influenced bTB transmission at abattoirs include unhygienic meat processing (OR = 5.4, 95%CI = 3.1–9.4, p < 0.001) and non-enforcement of abattoir standard operating systems (OR = 10.4, 95%CI = 6.0–18.5, p = 0.001).ConclusionThe workers have low knowledge levels, perceptions, and practices toward bTB emergence. These demand the workers’ education on hygienic meat handling to mitigate the menace of the disease. Surveillance and preventive preparedness considering the identified drivers through the ’One Health’ approach are recommended.

What impact do the current anti-vaccine movementsand the Covid-19 pandemic have on the vaccination coverage of Poles? Statistical analysis of epidemiological data on the level of vaccination of Poles in the years 2001-2020

Vaccine-preventable diseases are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. As new vaccines prove effective and the incidence of some infections decreases, vaccination practices are changing. Therefore, every year in Poland, the need for preventive vaccination on given pathogenic entities in the population is verified and analyzed. Every year, the Chief Sanitary Inspector issues a communication pursuant to Article 17(11) of the Act of 5 December 2008 on preventing and combating infections and infectious diseases in humans (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1845, as amended(1)) and announces the Preventive Vaccination Program for a given calendar year. The communication contains mandatory and recommended vaccinations, rules for carrying out vaccinations and general information on this principle of carrying out and organizing vaccination. Most vaccine-preventable diseases still carry a significant risk of recurrence and epidemics in the coming years.

Making Social Knowledge in the Victorian City: The Visiting Mode in Manchester, 1832-1914, by Marin Hewitt

Reviewed by: Making Social Knowledge in the Victorian City: The Visiting Mode in Manchester, 1832–1914 by Martin Hewitt Mark Crinson (bio) Making Social Knowledge in the Victorian City: The Visiting Mode in Manchester, 1832–1914, by Martin Hewitt; pp. viii + 114. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2020, $59.95, $22.95 paper, $19.50 ebook. Quite a lot of people visited quite a lot of other people in Victorian Manchester. The visitors were philanthropists, clergymen, missionaries, doctors, the odd architect, distributors of tracts and readers of scripture, temperance agents, sanitary and nuisance inspectors, and officials from school boards and Boards of Guardians. Some were paid, many were voluntary. Those they visited were the laboring classes, the poor and indigent—some 35,000 of them in 1842 alone. Apart from relief and reformation, the visits gathered information and impressions about housing conditions, schooling, income and rent, and diseases like cholera. The visitor was thus granted "the authority to speak on social matters" (17). It is this visiting mode that is the subject of Martin Hewitt's new book, Making Social Knowledge in the Victorian City: The Visiting Mode in Manchester, 1832–1914. For historians in the 1990s and early 2000s, industrial Manchester stood for something very different from what Asa Briggs had named the "shock city" with its associated debates about the emergence of new classes and the economic causes and social impact of the Industrial Revolution (Victorian Cities [Pelican, 1963], 96). In the work of Patrick Joyce, Mary Poovey, and others, the emphasis shifted to social surveillance, particularly as found in the work of experts, medical reports, maps, the Manchester Statistical Society and, overall, in a society of bodies and populations framed by Foucauldian ideas of governmentality and biopower. Hewitt's deep research and careful arguments challenge the Foucauldians on their own ground, using the statisticians and their opponents in the [End Page 310] nineteenth century as a mirror to the Foucauldians and their critics today, and arguing instead that "social knowledge was material, morphological and multidimensional" (94). The visiting mode, both an ecology of knowledge and a hermeneutics, is usefully divided into four stages or forms: exploration or penetration, encounter, the tableau, and the specimen or case. Visitors and their committees, far from being made up of the new experts, were mostly members of groups traditionally interested in the poor. This is less a class difference than a difference of attitude between those wielding competences, in Michel Foucault's terms, and those closer to settled forms of power; both could be found in the same individual. The work of the statisticians, Hewitt demonstrates, was usually crude and partial, a limited and flawed version of social knowledge. By contrast, the knowledge gathered by the visitors sometimes overlapped with statistics, but it was also highly localized and highly narrativized, populated with stock characters (often racialized, though this is not brought out by Hewitt), and concerned with specificities of place and time that marked their difference from the flattened social space of statistical abstraction. A chapter on maps explores the "cartographic imaginary" as a way of managing "ignorance and impotence," rather than (in the somewhat circular arguments of Joyce) as the production of a standardized and homogenized urban space (37). As functionally and visually differentiated objects whose efficacy is difficult to establish, maps represented a "chequerboard of distinctive districts" and "a complexly configured material topography" (33–34). Here, art historians might have emphasized not the "failure of precision" in a bird's eye view, but rather the significance of its suggestiveness (38). Another chapter looks at "knowledge transactions" in Elizabeth Gaskell's fiction, revealing just how steeped this author and her work were in the culture of visiting. Again, the overtness of the anti-statistical stance is clear. In Gaskell's fiction the chaos and opacity of the city are always present, but also, and complementarily, we find the idea that social knowledge could best come from direct observation, particularly in the homes of the poor (Gaskell's work was compared to that of naturalists, photographers, and genre painters). Confrontation, recognition of shared interests, revelation, vindication, and active remediation: all are enacted by Gaskell's visitors and expected of her readers...