Browsing by Subject "Outbreak"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Daily Situational Brief, December 24, 2014
    (MESH Coalition, 12/24/14) MESH Coalition
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    Epidemiological characteristics and initial clinical presentation of patients with laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV infection in an emergency department.
    (MRE Press, 2022) Al Aseri, Zohair; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Alnakhli, Mohammed; AlNooh, Abdullah; Alnassar, Abdulaziz; Alkhalid, Salah; Al Dughayman, Abdulaziz; Wani, Tariq; Alhetheel, Abdulkarim; Barry, Mazin; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Emergency departments have been implicated as a source of index cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus infection. We describe the epidemiological characteristics and initial clinical presentation of patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in an emergency department at a hospital in Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The records of all patients presenting to the emergency department who tested positive for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection on real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing from April 2014 to November 2019 were reviewed, and the outcomes were assessed. The clinical presentations and outcomes were compared according to sex. A total of 68 patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection were identified, of whom 40 (58.8%) were female, and 28 (41.2%) were male. The mean age was 50.7 (standard deviation: 16.4) years, and female patients were younger (44.7 ± 13.1 years) than male patients (59.4 ± 16.9 years). Nineteen of the 68 patients (27.9%) were asymptomatic of whom the majority (16/19, 84%) were female (p=0.012). The most common symptoms were fever (n=29, 42.6%), cough (n=25, 36.8%), upper respiratory tract infection (n=23, 33.8%), and pneumonia (n=15, 22.1%). Pneumonia, diarrhea, dyspnea, and vomiting/diarrhea were more common among male patients. Male patients were more likely than female patients to require hospital admission (78.6% vs. 30.0%), intensive care unit admission (64.3% vs. 15.0%), and invasive mechanical ventilation (32.1% vs. 10.0%). The most common presentation of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in this cohort was asymptomatic infection. A high proportion of asymptomatic infections has not been reported previously. The study did not identify typical clinical features of MERS patients. Male patients tended to develop more severe disease than female patients. A larger study is needed to confirm these findings.
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    Human monkeypox disease (MPX)
    (Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Salern, 2022-09-01) Farahat, Ramadan Abdelmoez; Sah, Ranjit; El-Sakka, Amro A.; Benmelouka, Amira Yasmine; Kundu, Mrinmoy; Labieb, Fatma; Shaheen, Rahma Sameh; Abdelaal, Abdelaziz; Abdelazeem, Basel; Bonilla-Aldana, D. Katterine; Franco-Paredes, Carlos; Henao-Martinez, Andres F.; Garout, Mohammed A.; León-Figueroa, Darwin A.; Pachar, Monica; Suárez, José Antonio; Ramirez, Juan David; Paniz-Mondolfi, Alberto; Rabaan, Ali A.; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Nishiura, Hiroshi; Ortiz-Martínez, Yeimer; Garcia-Robledo, Juan Esteban; Cimerman, Sergio; Barbosa, Alexandre Naime; Pagliano, Pasquale; Zambrano-Sanchez, Gabriela; Cardona-Ospina, Jaime A.; Bížová, Beatrice; Rodriguez-Morales, Alfonso J.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Monkeypox is a rare viral infection, endemic in many central and western African countries. The last international outbreak of monkeypox reported outside Africa occurred back in 2003. However, monkeypox has reemerged at a global scale with numerous confirmed cases across the globe in 2022. The rapid spread of cases through different countries has raised serious concerns among public health officials worldwide prompting accelerated investigations aimed to identify the origins and cause of the rapid expansion of cases. The current situation is reminiscent of the very early stages of the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Overlapping features between these, two seemingly alike viral entities include the possibility for airborne transmission and the currently unexplained and rapid spread across borders. Early recognition of cases and timely intervention of potential transmission chains are necessary to contain further outbreaks. Measures should include rapid and accurate diagnosis of cases meeting case definitions, active surveillance efforts, and appropriate containment of confirmed cases. Governments and health policymakers must apply lessons learned from previous outbreaks and start taking active steps toward limiting the recent global spread of monkeypox. Herein, we discuss the status of the current monkeypox outbreaks worldwide, the epidemiological and public health situation at a global scale and what can be done to keep at bay its further expansion and future global implications.
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    Measles: Contemporary considerations for the emergency physician
    (Wiley, 2023-09-09) Blutinger, Erik; Schmitz, Gillian; Kang, Christopher; Comp, Geoffrey; Wagner, Emily; Finnell, John T.; Cozzi, Nicolas; Haddock, Alison; Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine
    Measles, or rubeola, is a highly contagious acute febrile viral illness. Despite the availability of an effective vaccine since 1963, measles outbreaks continue worldwide. This article seeks to provide emergency physicians with the contemporary knowledge required to rapidly diagnose potential measles cases and bolster public health measures to reduce ongoing transmission.
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    Multipronged Approach to Controlling a Tuberculosis Outbreak Among Persons Experiencing Homelessness
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2022) Muloma, Eva; Stewart, Rebekah; Townsend, Helen; Koch, Sarah; Burkholder, Sarah; Railey, Shanica; White, Kelly; Redington-Noble, Rachel; Caine, Virginia; Medicine, School of Medicine
    In May 2009, the Marion County Public Health Department in Indiana declared a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak among persons experiencing homelessness in Marion County, began active case finding to detect additional cases, and formed a TB outbreak response team to plan and coordinate outbreak activities. Outbreak-associated cases had 1 of 2 outbreak genotypes and either reported experiencing homelessness themselves or had an epidemiologic link to a shelter or a person experiencing homelessness. The last of 53 outbreak-associated cases was detected in 2019 after more than 2 years without a case. The Marion County Public Health Department continues to address TB-related issues and implement prevention measures at homeless shelters and among persons experiencing homelessness in 2019. This example, in addition to other published guidance, can be used by jurisdictions to plan and implement their own TB outbreak prevention and response activities among persons experiencing homelessness.