In the Indian state of Bihar, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a major public health issue that has been aggravated by the rising incidence of new Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections. In endemic areas, the risk of VL infections in patients living with HIV (PLHIV) is higher. It is important t...o investigate the disease-related knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of PLHIV in Bihar in order to monitor HIV/VL co-infection. Adequate knowledge, a positive attitude, and good practices for VL control are essential to stamp out the disease. This study investigated the KAP towards VL in HIV patients attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic at ICMR-RMRIMS, Patna.
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Cognizant of the need for standardization of the response for COVID-19, the Federal Ministry of Health prepared this national guideline in an effort to contain the epidemic before it overwhelms the health care facilities. This national guideline is expected to guide policy makers and h...ealth professionals at all level. A standardized approaches to will assist effective and efficient utilization of the limited resource of the country, minimizes dilemma and confusion on case management. To this effect, the FMOH has established National COVID-19 advisory committee. The committee members are from different specialties with very good experiences in disaster management and prevention and treatment of infectious disease epidemics. The input from the committee is used to make decisions at the national level about theepidemics in the weeks and months to come. The FMOH would like to acknowledge the members of the national advisory committee for their commitment and unreserved effort in finalizing the task in a very short period of time and advising the Ministry on various issues related to the epidemics at this critical time.
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Environmental Research Volume 151, November 2016, Pages 115-123
Dengue is the world’s most important arboviral disease in terms of number of people affected. Over the past 50 years, incidence increased 30-fold: there were approximately 390 million infections in 2010. Globalization, trade, travel,... demographic trends, and warming temperatures are associated with the recent spread of the primary vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus and of dengue. Overall, models project that new geographic areas along the fringe of current geographic ranges for Aedes will become environmentally suitable for the mosquito’s lifecycle, and for dengue transmission. Many endemic countries where dengue is likely to spread further have underdeveloped health systems, increasing the substantial challenges of disease prevention and control. Control focuses on management of Aedes, although these efforts have typically had limited effectiveness in preventing outbreaks. New prevention and control efforts are needed to counter the potential consequences of climate change on the geographic range and incidence of dengue, including novel methods of vector control and dengue vaccines.
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Philos Ethics Humanit Med. 2014 Oct 24;9(1):15. The current Ebola epidemic has presented challenges both medical and ethical. Although we have known epidemics of untreatable diseases in the past, this particular one may be unique in the intensity and rapidity of its spread, as well as ethical challe...nges that it has created, exacerbated by its geographic location. We will look at the infectious agent and the epidemic it is causing, in order to understand the ethical problems that have arisen. Free Full Text, please got he website http://www.peh-med.com/content/9/1/15/abstract
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Fully functioning water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and health care waste management services are a critical aspect of infection prevention and control (IPC) practices, and ensuring patient safety and quality of care. Such services are also essential for creating an environment that supports the dig...nity and human rights of all care seekers, especially mothers, newborns, children and care providers.
WASH and waste services are also critical for preventing and effectively responding to disease outbreaks. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed gaps in these basic services (Box 1). These gaps threaten the safety of patients and caregivers, and have environmental consequences, especially as a result of large increases in plastic health care waste. In short, WASH is a critical foundation for improving quality across the health system (1).
Many facilities lack plans and budgets for WASH, which has impacts on IPC. This lack of services, and of systems to improve them, compromises the ability to provide safe and quality care, and places health care providers and those seeking care at substantial risk of infection and loss of dignity. Unhygienic health care facilities without drinking water or functional toilets are also a disincentive to seeking care and undermine staff morale – these factors can have a critical impact on controlling infectious disease outbreaks.
Climate change and its impacts on WASH and health services, gender-specific needs, and equity in service provision and management all require rigorous attention, adaptable tools and regular monitoring.
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Rabies has an enormous impact on both agriculture and conservation biology, but its greatest burden is undeniably on public health. As such, routine methods for rapid risk assessment after human exposures to rabies as well as applications for laboratory-based surveillance, production of biologicals ...and management of this infectious disease are critical. Given its mandate to improve human health and control disease among its Member States, WHO has led the production of this fifth edition of Laboratory techniques in rabies.
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: interim guidance, 17 February 2021
This document provides interim guidance on the management of the blood supply in response to the pandemic outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). It emphasizes the importance of being prepared and responding quickly and outlines key actions and measures that... the blood services should take to mitigate the potential risk to the safety and sufficiency of the blood supplies during the pandemic.
It should be read in conjunction with WHO Guidance for National Blood Services on Protecting the Blood Supply During Infectious Disease Outbreaks, which provides general guidance on the development of national plans to respond to any emerging infectious threats to the sufficiency or safety of the blood supply.
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Since the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS) in 2015, there has been rapidly growing awareness among many African countries that they need to be doing more to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Africa Centres fo...r Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was officially inaugurated in January 2017 and will support countries commencing surveillance for serious infectious disease threats in Africa, including resistance. Review of the recent WHO GLASS report suggests that, while certain nations do have some surveillance systems in place, very few countries in Africa currently conduct effective routine surveillance.
African Journal of Laboratory MedicineISSN: (Online) 2225-2010, (Print) 2225-2002
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Rabies has an enormous impact on both agriculture and conservation biology, but its greatest burden is undeniably on public health. As such, routine methods for rapid risk assessment after human exposures to rabies as well as applications for laboratory-based surveillance, production of biologicals ...and management of this infectious disease are critical. Given its mandate to improve human health and control disease among its Member States, WHO has led the production of this fifth edition of Laboratory techniques in rabies.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a threat to human and animal health and refers to the ability of microorganisms to defy the medicines prescribed. For instance when antibiotics are used improperly, such as an incorrect dose, insufficient duration or wrong frequency, resistance is heightened. The mi...suse of antimicrobials affects their efficacy, and increasingly more infections and diseases become untreatable. Many gains made in modern medicine throughout the 20th century will be lost, making AMR a global public and animal health issue that requires concerted action. AMR and the use of antimicrobials (AMU) affect food safety and security, people’s livelihoods, as well as economic and agricultural development.
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Brucellosis is widespread in both humans and livestock in many developing countries. The authors have performed a series of epidemiological studies on brucellosis in agro-pastoral areas in Tanzania since 2015, with the aim of the disease control. Previously, the potential of a community-based brucel...losis control initiative, which mainly consisted of the sale of cattle with experience of abortion and vaccinating calves, was assessed as being effective and acceptable based on a quantitative approach. This study was conducted to investigate the feasibility of community-based brucellosis control program using participatory rural appraisals (PRAs) and key-informant interviews. Four PRAs were performed together with livestock farmers and livestock and medical officers in 2017. In the PRAs, qualitative information related to risky behaviors for human infection, human brucellosis symptoms, willingness to sell cattle with experience of abortion, and willingness to pay for calf vaccination were collected, and a holistic approach for a community-based disease control project was planned. All of the communities were willing to implement disease control measures. To avoid human infection, education, especially for children, was proposed to change risky behaviors. The findings of this study showed that community-based disease control measures are promising.
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The 21st century has witnessed changes - travel and trade, urbanization, environmental degradation and other trends that increase the risk of disease outbreaks, their spread and amplification into epidemics and pandemics. At the same time, the science and knowledge around infectious hazards are cons...tantly evolving. This introductory level online course will guide you through the new landscape by providing information and tools you need to better manage disease outbreaks and health emergencies.
Materials have been originally designed for WHO African region purposes and have therefore references to Africa more than other continents
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Accessed on 06.03.2022
Air pollution is contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. Household combustion devices, motor vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fires are common sou...rces of air pollution. Pollutants of major public health concern include particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Outdoor and indoor air pollution cause respiratory and other diseases and is an important source of morbidity and mortality.
Air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year. WHO data shows that almost all of the global population (99%) breathe air that exceeds WHO guideline limits containing high levels of pollutants, with low- and middle-income countries suffering from the highest exposures. WHO is supporting countries to address air pollution.
From smog hanging over cities to smoke inside the home, air pollution poses a major threat to health and climate. The combined effects of ambient (outdoor) and household air pollution cause millions of premature deaths every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.
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People in prisons and other places of detention live in a closed environment and in close proximity with one another – conditions that facilitate transmission of diseases. They also have a greater underlying burden of disease and worse health conditions than the general population, and frequently ...face greater exposure to risks such as smoking, poor hygiene and weak immune defence due to stress, poor nutrition or existing diseases. All these factors make people living in prison more susceptible to infections.
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Technical Update
Areas of Africa endemic for Buruli ulcer (BU), caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, also have a high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), with adult prevalence rates between 1% and 5% (Maps). However, there is limited information on the prevalence of BU–HIV coinfection.... Preliminary
evidence suggests that HIV infection may increase the risk of BU disease (1–3). In the Médecins Sans Frontières project in Akonolinga, Cameroon, HIV prevalence was approximately 3–6 times higher among BU patients than the regional estimated HIV prevalence (2). Similarly in Benin and Ghana, BU
patients were 8 times and 3 times respectively more likely to have HIV infection than those without BU (1, 3). Further study is needed to clarify this association and enhance knowledge about the prevalence ofBU–HIV coinfection in endemic areas.
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Временные рекомендации
17 марта 2020 г.
Данный документ представляет собой адаптированную версию временных рекомендаций, разработанных для ближневосточного респ...ираторного синдрома, вызванного коронавирусом (БВРС-КоВ), которые были опубликованы в июне 2018 г.1, и был составлен на основе опубликованных ВОЗ научно обоснованных рекомендаций, включая руководство «Infection prevention and control of epidemic- and pandemic-prone acute respiratory diseases in health care» (Профилактика инфекций и борьба с острыми респираторными инфекциями, способными вызывать эпидемии и пандемии, при оказании медико-санитарной помощи)2, а также имеющейся на сегодняшний день информации о COVID-19.
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Online Training Course
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is one of many viral hemorrhagic fevers. It is a severe, often fatal disease in humans and nonhuman primates, and is one of the world's most contagious diseases. However, the infection can be controlled through recommended protective measures. For Gra...ssroot Audience. You can download the Education Module: http://www.wiredhealthresources.net/training/filling-station.html
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N Engl J Med. 2016 Jan 13. [Epub ahead of print] Free full text
The explosive pandemic of Zika virus infection occurring throughout South America, Central America, and the Caribbean (see map) and potentially threatening the United States is the most recent of four unexpected arrivals of important a...rthropod-borne viral diseases in the Western Hemisphere over the past 20 years. It follows dengue, which entered this hemisphere stealthily over decades and then more aggressively in the 1990s; West Nile virus, which emerged in 1999; and chikungunya, which emerged in 2013. Are the successive migrations of these viruses unrelated, or do they reflect important new patterns of disease emergence?
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity. AMR threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi.
It occurs when microorganisms develop resistance to me...dicines that are relied upon for treatment, making some conditions difficult or impossible to cure. As a result, infections persist in the body, increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
The Antimicrobial Resistance channel offers learning resources to support implementation of the Global Action Plan on AMR (2015), by building health care worker competencies to help combat AMR in their daily clinical practice.
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In the 126 years since it was first described, scientists have learned a great deal about Buruli ulcer, (an ulcerating skin infection caused by the environmental bacterium, Mycobacterium ulcerans), including how to treat it. Yet, there is 1 question about this neglected tropical disease that has rem...ained unanswered: how is M. ulcerans transmitted to humans? In southeastern Australia, where Buruli ulcer is endemic and cases are increasing, researchers are putting together the M. ulcerans transmission puzzle. The more they learn, the better equipped they will be for managing infections.
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