Analysis on clinical and epidemiological characteristics of 1032 patients with Dengue fever in Guangzhou / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of Dengue fever (DF) during the Dengue-1 epidemic in Guangzhou.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Clinical and epidemiological data of 1032 patients with DF from May 2002 to November 2003 were retrospectively analyzed. Dengue virus were isolated by cell culture and typed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Age of the patients ranged from 55 days to 91 years old (average 34.7 +/- 13.2 years) with sex ratio 1.03:1. Incubation period ranged from 2 to 12 days with mean periods of 5.3 +/- 2.4 days. Most (45.0%) cases appeared in September and the epidemic last from July to November. Dengue outbreak had involved 675 cases in 26 common places. The common manifestations were seen as fever (100%), headache (90.9%), myalgia (68.4%), bone soreness (48.8%), fatigue (79.3%), skin rash (60.1%), positive tourniquet test (45.3%), leukopenia (63.3%) and thrombocytopenia (60.8%), respectively. Dengue virus was isolated from serum of 19 out of 54 patients' and identified as Dengue virus type 1. DNA sequence analyzes on rates of nucleotide homology were 97%, 97% and 98% compared with those of Dengue virus type 1 strain of DF outbreak in Cambodia, in 1997 and 1999 in China.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The epidemic of DF in Guangzhou in 2002/2003 was caused by Dengue virus type-1 with most patients showing classic type of the disease. Date suggested that change can happen from non-endemic to hypoendemic regions in Guangdong province.</p>

Analysis on the epidemiological features and risk factors of hospital workplace violence in Guangzhou / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the epidemiological features and relevant risk factors of hospital workplace violence.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A retrospective study using logistic regression on hospital staff was carried out. Based on WHO's last definition for workplace violence from "new research showing workplace violence threatening health services" issued on May 10th, 2002.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among 4062 staff members investigated, 2619 had been subjected to workplace violence in the last 12 months preceding the survey, with a rate of 64.48% which was accounted for 49.12% of psychological and 15.36% of physical violence respectively. Male staff were more vulnerable to physical violence against female. Those victims aged 30 - 39 years were at greatest risk. Doctors and nurses were leading victims of workplace violence. Most of workplace violence happened during day shift, in the ward. The main risk factors contributing to workplace violence would include: unreasonable demand from patients or their relatives, late recovery as expected, and expensive cost. Patients' relatives often took the leading role as perpetrators and followed by patients themselves.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Magnitude of hospital workplace violence in hospitals in Guangzhou asked for comprehensive measures to improve staff-patient relationship for the prevention and control of violence.</p>