High Case-Fatality Rate for Human Anthrax,Northern Ghana, 2005–2016

The human cutaneous anthrax case-fatality rate is ≈1% when treated, 5%–20% when untreated. We report high case-fatality rates (median 35.0%; 95% CI 21.1%–66.7%) during 2005–2016 linked to livestock handling in northern Ghana, where veterinary resources are limited. Livestock vaccination and access to human treatment should be evaluated.     

Surveillance of COVID-19–Associated Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children,South Korea

A concerning development during the coronavirus disease pandemic has been multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Reports of this condition in East Asia have been limited. In South Korea, 3 cases were reported to the national surveillance system for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. All case-patients were hospitalized and survived with no major disease sequelae.     

五年住院病人医院感染率分析

目的 :了解五年中医院感染的动态变化情况 ,为控制医院感染提供依据。方法 :科室自报和专职人员补漏相结合 ,发现医院感染病例 ,调查所有住院病人。结果 :1994年 7月～ 1998年 10月 ,某医院住院病人共计 5 9413例 ,发生医院感染 362 2例次 ,总医院感染率 6 10 % ,1994～ 1998年感染率分别为 8 0 5 %、7 98%、6 16%、4 97%、4 5 1% ,呈持续下降。部位例次感染率以上呼吸道最高 ( 2 67% ) ,手术伤口 ( 1 15 % )次之 ,下呼吸道感染率( 1 0 8% )居第三位 ,但不同年份的不同部位感染率的位次略有变化 ,外科、儿科、内科感染率分别为 9 0 3%、8 0 6%和 6 70 % ,居前三位。但不同年份不同科室所居位次变化较大。结论 :医院感染率的持续下降 ,原因是多方面的 ,但监测工作对感染率的降低所起的作用 ,是不容忽视的。在医院感染控制时应以上一年的监测结果为依据 ,把感染率最高的科室作为重点 ,查找其感染率高的原因 ,并采取相应控制措施 ,降低其医院感染率。这样交替进行 ,最终将能达到降低全院感染率之目的     

Abdominal aortic aneurysm: epidemiology,screening and work-up for repair

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a dilatation of the infra-renal abdominal aorta to greater than 3 cm. Population screening is offered to men in the year of their 65th birthday in the UK. Patients with small, asymptomatic AAAs (<5.5 cm) are entered into surveillance programmes and have their cardiovascular risk factors managed aggressively. An AAA ≥5.5 cm diameter, or one which is symptomatic, should be considered for surgical repair to prevent rupture. Aneurysm repair can be undertaken using either an open surgical or endovascular approach; the decision should be tailored to the individual patient and made by the surgeon and patient, with input from a multi-disciplinary team.     

Un sistema de vigilancia de salud pública para el cambio climático en las ciudades

This paper makes a first proposal for a public health surveillance system for climate change in cities, and describes the process that led to its definition. After several years of monitoring different aspects related to climate change and its impact, the public health services of Barcelona made a preliminary proposal and gathered a working group of experts to discuss and review it. Four categories of components were defined: climate data, health impacts of climate change and its determinants, contributions of the city to mitigation (especially those with health co-benefits), and actions to reduce vulnerability to extreme events. They were broken in twelve components, with indicators for each. The proposal was further refined with subsequent reviews, and is being used by the city public health services involved in this field.     

Estimating and Characterizing COVID-19 Deaths,Puerto Rico,March–July 2020

ObjectivesUsing the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) classification guidelines, we characterized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)–associated confirmed and probable deaths in Puerto Rico during March–July 2020. We also estimated the total number of possible deaths due to COVID-19 in Puerto Rico during the same period.MethodsWe described data on COVID-19–associated mortality, in which the lower bound was the sum of confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths and the upper bound was excess mortality, estimated as the difference between observed deaths and average expected deaths. We obtained data from the Puerto Rico Department of Health COVID-19 Mortality Surveillance System, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Electronic Disease Surveillance System Base System, and the National Center for Health Statistics.ResultsDuring March–July 2020, 225 COVID-19–associated deaths were identified in Puerto Rico (119 confirmed deaths and 106 probable deaths). The median age of decedents was 73 (interquartile range, 59-83); 60 (26.7%) deaths occurred in the Metropolitana region, and 140 (62.2%) deaths occurred among men. Of the 225 decedents, 180 (83.6%) had been hospitalized and 93 (41.3%) had required mechanical ventilation. Influenza and pneumonia (48.0%), sepsis (28.9%), and respiratory failure (27.1%) were the most common conditions contributing to COVID-19 deaths based on death certificates. Based on excess mortality calculations, as many as 638 COVID-19–associated deaths could have occurred during the study period, up to 413 more COVID-19–associated deaths than originally reported.ConclusionsIncluding probable deaths per the CSTE guidelines and monitoring all-cause excess mortality can lead to a better estimation of COVID-19–associated deaths and serve as a model to enhance mortality surveillance in other US jurisdictions.     

Efficacy of m-Health for the detection of adverse events following immunization – The stimulated telephone assisted rapid safety surveillance (STARSS) randomised control trial

IntroductionPassive surveillance is recommended globally for the detection of adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) but this has significant challenges. Use of Mobile health for vaccine safety surveillance enables a consumer-centred approach to reporting. The Stimulated Telephone Assisted Rapid Safety Surveillance (STARSS) a randomised control trial (RCT) sought to evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of SMS for AEFI surveillance.MethodsMulti-centre RCT, participants were adult vaccinees or parents of children receiving any vaccine at a trial site. At enrolment randomisation occurred to one of two SMS groups or a control group. Prompts on days 2, 7 and 14 post-immunisation, were sent to the SMS group, to ascertain if a medical event following immunisation (MEFI) had occurred. No SMS’s were sent to the control participants. Those in the SMS who notified an MEFI were pre-randomised to complete a computer assisted telephone interview or a web based report to determine if an AEFI had occurred whilst an AEFI in the controls was determined by a search for passive reports. The primary outcome was the AEFI detection rate in the SMS group compared to controls.ResultsWe enrolled 6,338 participants, who were equally distributed across groups and who received 11,675 vaccines. The SMS group (4,225) received 12,675 surveillance prompts with 9.8% being non-compliant and not responding. In those that responded 90% indicated that no MEFI had been experienced and 184 had a verified AEFI. 6 control subjects had a reported AEFI. The AEFI detection rate was 13 fold greater in the SMS group when compared with controls (4.3 vs 0.3%).ConclusionWe have demonstrated that the STARSS methodology improves AEFI detection. Our findings should inform the wider use of SMS-based surveillance which is particularly relevant since establishing robust and novel pharmacovigilance systems is critical to monitoring novel vaccines which includes potential COVID vaccines.     

2015—2019年四川省流感哨点监测结果分析

目的 描述四川省2015—2019年流感病毒流行特征,为疫情防控提供依据。方法 对流感监测系统上报的流感样病例数据开展回顾性流行病学分析。结果 2015—2019年间,四川省共监测流感样病例标本131 477份,其中阳性标本23 844份,流感阳性率为18.14%。2015—2019年四川省优势流感亚型主要为甲型H1N1,季节性H3N2和B(Victoria)系流感。流感阳性率随月份、季节而改变,四川省流感阳性率高峰主要出现在冬季,其次为秋季。甲型流感主要在秋冬季流行,乙型流感主要在冬春季流行。流感病毒阳性检出率在5～14岁组年龄段最高。结论 四川省流感有明显的冬季流行高峰,各型别呈交替流行。秋冬季应加强流感防控工作;甲型和乙型流感好发于5～14岁群体,应继续加强对儿童学生流感的防控。     

2019年内蒙古包头市细菌耐药监测

目的 监测2019年包头市11所三级医院所有临床分离菌株的构成及对常用抗菌药物的耐药情况,为临床科室选择抗菌药物提供可靠依据。方法 对上述医院的临床分离菌采用纸片扩散法（KB法）或全自动药敏仪法进行药敏试验,按CLSI 2018年版 M - 100标准判读药敏结果,采用WHONET 2019软件进行数据分析。结果 2019年共收集上述医院非重复临床分离菌8 430株,其中革兰阳性菌2 278株,占比27.0%,革兰阴性菌6 152株,占比73.0%。葡萄球菌属中耐甲氧西林凝固酶阴性葡萄球菌（MRCNS）和耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌 (MRSA）检出率分别为65.5%和12.8%,未检出利奈唑胺、万古霉素和替考拉宁耐药菌株。粪肠球菌（EFA）对多数抗菌药物的耐药率均低于屎肠球菌（EFM）,EFA中检出2株利奈唑胺耐药菌株,EFM中检出1株替考拉宁耐药菌株、2株万古霉素耐药菌株。产超广谱β- 内酰胺酶（ESBLs）大肠埃希菌（ECO）和ESBLs（+）克雷伯菌属菌株的检出率分别为46.0%和16.8%。耐碳青霉烯大肠埃希菌（CREC）和耐碳青霉烯肺炎克雷伯菌（CRKP） 的检出率分别为0.5%和1.1%,CREC对左旋氧氟沙星的耐药率为100%,远高于CRKP的29.4%。结论 本地区ECO对喹诺酮类抗菌药物耐药率较高,应继续做好耐药监测工作,加强抗菌药物的合理使用,预防耐药菌的产生与传播。     

Drug use in pregnancy: an overview of epidemiological (drug utilization) studies

Summary The need for further information on drug utilization patterns during pregnancy in different countries was assessed by reviewing literature obtained by hand and computer searches for the years 1960–1988.The 13 identified studies showed that pregnant women used an average of 4.7 drugs. The most commonly ingested medications were vitamins and iron preparations (almost all women), analgesics, antiemetics and antacids.However, the important variables taken into account differently in each study, such as date of surveillance, country, size of population, personal habits, and physiopathological and demographic characteristics, may it impossible to construct a comprehensive, detailed, up-to-date picture of drug utilization during pregnancy.The evaluation confirmed the need for systematic permanent surveillance of drug utilization in pregnancy, so as to avoid the use of data based on widely differing contexts, times and methods, in a field where knowledge is often derived from scanty information.This study was supported in part by the National Research Council (CNR, Rome, Italy), Convenzione Farmacologia Clinica