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The COVID-19 pandemic, emerging/re-emerging infections as well as other non-communicable chronic diseases, highlight the necessity of smart microfluidic point-of-care diagnostic (POC) devices and systems in developing nations as risk factors for infections, severe disease manifestations and poor clinical outcomes are highly represented in these countries. These POC devices are also becoming vital as analytical procedures executable outside of conventional laboratory settings are seen as the future of healthcare delivery. Microfluidics have grown into a revolutionary system to miniaturize chemical and biological experimentation, including disease detection and diagnosis utilizing muPads/paper-based microfluidic devices, polymer-based microfluidic devices and 3-dimensional printed microfluidic devices. Through the development of droplet digital PCR, single-cell RNA sequencing, and next-generation sequencing, microfluidics in their analogous forms have been the leading contributor to the technical advancements in medicine. Microfluidics and machine-learning-based algorithms complement each other with the possibility of scientific exploration, induced by the framework's robustness, as preliminary studies have documented significant achievements in biomedicine, such as sorting, microencapsulation, and automated detection. Despite these milestones and potential applications, the complexity of microfluidic system design, fabrication, and operation has prevented widespread adoption. As previous studies focused on microfluidic devices that can handle molecular diagnostic procedures, researchers must integrate these components with other microsystem processes like data acquisition, data processing, power supply, fluid control, and sample pretreatment to overcome the barriers to smart microfluidic commercialization.Copyright © 2023 by Begell House, Inc.
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Monkeypox is an Orthopoxvirus, first documented as a human infection in 1970, with recent reemergence of infections despite increased understanding of this disease over the past 50 years. Human outbreaks of monkeypox, once endemic to Africa, are expanding worldwide due in part to increased geographic travel. The threat of this zoonotic disease becoming an international disaster is tangible, witnessed with viral conditions like H1N1 and COVID-19. It is paramount for health care personnel to be informed of recent monkeypox developments and understand optimal treatment and care of monkeypox-infected patients. This chapter reviews timely resources for medical providers to take appropriate precautions to prevent potential threats like a monkeypox attack.
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Human population growth, globalization, and climate change may pose a sustained risk of emerging infections of pandemic potential. Fortunately, technological development provides tools to identify and monitor emerging epidemics. The rapid full genome characterization of the SARS coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), responsible for coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19), and free sharing of sequence information, enabled a rapid global response. This included diagnostics, epidemiological monitoring, nonmedical interventions, and vaccine development, limiting the pandemic impact. An early and efficient response to global health threats will continue to rely on the development, refinement, and utilization of novel technologies to detect and monitor emerging infectious diseases. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Disease outbreaks can severely disrupt the global tourism sector. New approaches for preventing infectious diseases from emerging and spreading are urgently needed to secure the prosperity of the tourism industry. This conceptual article proposes a comprehensive framework of interrelationships between tourism and emerging infectious disease. The conceptual framework highlights the pathways in which the tourism industry itself can potentially contribute to the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, including tourism-induced land changes, sourcing meat from intensive animal farms, global movement and close proximity of people, and high-risk sexual activities. Based on the interrelationships, the framework proposes tangible managerial action recommendations for tourism businesses and policy makers to contribute to the prevention of future disease outbreaks. This paper concludes with a research agenda on how scholars can support tourism practitioners and governments in reducing the likelihood of future epidemics and pandemics.
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The possession of exotic animals as pets is a social practice that has become more visible in Mexico in recent years, so it is interesting to understand its environmental and social implications and those related to human health. The present study aims to identify the main species of exotic animals kept as pets and the zoonotic diseases reported in these species. We analyzed official figures of seizures of exotic fauna in Mexico and reviewed specialized literature on zoonotic diseases documented in Mexico in these species. We identified zoonoses in species of fauna that can be acquired legally and illegally in the country, reported in environments in which animals coexist with other species and are in direct contact with people, which represents an important factor in the spread and propensity of this type of disease. We conclude that the sanitary regulation of wildlife markets, the monitoring and studying microorganisms associated with wildlife are valuable strategies to prevent the emergence of zoonoses.
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Vaccination is effective in preventing the increase of disease, especially emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), and it is particularly important for people in close contact with infected sources and susceptible populations who are at increased risk of getting infectious diseases due to behavior, occupation or health. Despite targeted vaccination guidelines, inadequate vaccination of the key populations fails to receive widespread attention, resulting in a high-risk transition of disease from key populations to general populations. Strengthening the vaccination of the susceptible groups can effectively block the spread of pathogens to general populations, and reduce the consumption of medical resources in universal vaccination, which has significant economic value. In this review, we describe the prevalence of EIDs, analyze the experience and lessons of infectious disease vaccination in key populations through several cases, and further explore the causes for the decline in vaccination rates of key populations. According to the trends of EIDs, a plan to strengthen the vaccination of key populations is proposed to effectively prevent the transition of EIDs from key populations to general populations.
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Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen which causes high mortality rate in humans. Dromedary camels may play a central role in virus transmission to humans. Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4), a transmembrane protein located on the cell surface of many epithelial and endothelial tissues was identified as the receptor for MERS-CoV. The current study investigated the possibility that bacterial stimulation of camel blood could affect the expression level of DPP4 on camel leukocyte subpopulation, which in turn may contribute to the higher susceptibility of camels with bacterial infection to MERS-CoV infection. DPP4 expression was evaluated by membrane immunofluorescence and flow cytometry. Stimulation of camel blood with the bacterial species S. aureus or E. coil resulted in the upregulation of DPPV on both monocytes and granulocytes, while S. agalactiae did not significantly modulate DPPV expression on either of the immune cells (p > 0.05). None of the bacterial species could induce a change in DPPV expression on lymphocytes from stimulated blood. Collectively, the present study showed an enhancing effect of bacterial stimulation on DPPV expression on camel monocytes and granulocytes.
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Sex and gender issues are especially important in emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) but are routinely overlooked despite data and practice. Each of these have an effect either directly, via the effects on vulnerability to infectious diseases, exposures to infectious pathogens, and responses to illness, and indirectly through effects on disease prevention and control programs. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the viral agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has underscored the importance of understanding the sex and gender impacts on pandemics. This review takes a broader looks at how sex and gender impact vulnerability, exposure risk, and treatment and response that affect incidence, duration, severity, morbidity, mortality, and disability of EIDs. And although EID epidemic and pandemic plans need to be "pro-women", they need to be broader and include all sex and gender factors. Incorporation of these factors are a priority at the local, national, and global policy levels to fulfil the gaps in scientific research, public health intervention programs and pharmaceutical service strengthening to reduce emerging disease inequities in the population during pandemics and epidemics. A failure to do so creates acceptance of the inequities and infringes on fairness and human rights norms.
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130 years ago, in 1892, our great compatriot Dmitry Iosifovich Ivanovsky (18641920) discovered a new type of pathogen viruses. Viruses have existed since the birth of life on Earth and for more than three billion years, as the biosphere evolved, they are included in interpopulation interactions with representatives of all kingdoms of life: archaea, bacteria, protozoa, algae, fungi, plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates, including the Homo sapiens (Hominidae, Homininae). Discovery of D.I. Ivanovsky laid the foundation for a new science virology. The rapid development of virology in the 20th century was associated with the fight against emerging and reemerging infections, epidemics (epizootics) and pandemics (panzootics) of which posed a threat to national and global biosecurity (tick-borne and other encephalitis, hemorrhagic fevers, influenza, smallpox, poliomyelitis, HIV, parenteral hepatitis, coronaviral and other infections). Fundamental research on viruses created the basis for the development of effective methods of diagnostics, vaccine prophylaxis, and antiviral drugs. Russian virologists continue to occupy leading positions in some priority areas of modern virology in vaccinology, environmental studies oz zoonotic viruses, studies of viral evolution in various ecosystems, and several other areas. A meaningful combination of theoretical approaches to studying the evolution of viruses with innovative methods for studying their molecular genetic properties and the creation of new generations of vaccines and antiviral drugs on this basis will significantly reduce the consequences of future pandemics or panzootics. The review presents the main stages in the formation and development of virology as a science in Russia with an emphasis on the most significant achievements of soviet and Russian virologists in the fight against viral infectious diseases.
Subject(s)
Influenza, Human , Viruses , Animals , Humans , Anniversaries and Special Events , Ecosystem , Viruses/genetics , Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use , Pandemics/prevention & control , Virology/historyABSTRACT
Household transmission plays a key role in the spread of COVID-19 through populations. In this paper, we report on the transmission of COVID-19 within households in a metropolitan area in Australia, examine the impact of various factors and highlight priority areas for future public health responses. We collected and reviewed retrospective case report data and follow-up interview responses from households with a positive case of the Delta COVID-19 variant in Queensland in 2021. The overall secondary attack rate (SAR) among household contacts was 29.6% and the mean incubation period for secondary cases was 4.3 days. SAR was higher where the index case was male (57.9% vs. 14.3%) or aged ≤12 years (38.7% vs. 17.4%) but similar for adult contacts that were double vaccinated (35.7%) and unvaccinated (33.3%). Most interview participants emphasised the importance of clear, consistent and compassionate health advice as a key priority for managing outbreaks in the home. The overall rate of household transmission was slightly higher than that reported in previous studies on the wild COVID-19 variant and secondary infections developed more rapidly. While vaccination did not appear to affect the risk of transmission to adult subjects, uptake in the sample was ultimately high.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , SARS-CoV-2 , Adult , Male , Humans , COVID-19/epidemiology , Retrospective Studies , Queensland/epidemiology , AustraliaABSTRACT
SARS-CoV-2, the betacoronavirus that causes COVID-19, has spread rapidly around the world since December 2019. It was suspected from the beginning that the primary outbreak in China, was of a zoonotic origin, but the SARS- CoV-2 animal reservoir(s) has not been definitively identified yet. So far, it has been confirmed that numerous animal species are susceptible to infection and that experimentally infected cats, shrews, hamsters and ferrets can also shed the virus. The SARS-CoV-2 was also detected in farmed mink (Neovison vison), in which it caused both, the clinical and subclinical disease, with respiratory symptoms and increased mortality. In April 2020, the first SARS-CoV-2 cases were detected in minks in the Netherlands, and to date (November 2020), further outbreaks have been confirmed in Denmark, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the United States, Greece, France and Poland. It has also been shown that the transmission of infection from humans to minks and from minks to humans may occur. The OIE is working on the inclusion of mink in the WAHIS database and encouraging the Members to provide appropriate data for this species to improve the monitoring of the epidemiological situation worldwide and prevent the establishment of a possible new reservoir for SARS-CoV-2.
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Wild animals may be closely related to the outbreak of infectious diseases in recent years. For example, it has been reported that there are closely related SARS-CoV and new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in civet cats, raccoon dogs and pangolins. Therefore, it is of great significance to identify existing or potential pathogens in wild animals that may be in close contact with humans, in order to trace the origin of a specific epidemic and to carry out risk assessment of the most likely source of future epidemics.
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This review article discusses the following: (1) infectious diseases and the Sustainable Development Goals, (2) pandemic proofing and the SDGs, (3) climate change and food insecurity, (4) antibiotics and antibiotic resistance, (5) vaccines, prevention, and vaccine hesitancy, (6) plastics, waste, and pollution. Therefore, it is increasingly clear that the pandemic is disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable of our communities: the elderly, persons with preexisting conditions, and persons living with disabilities, as well as communities of color, immigrants, our prison population, and front-line workers, who often have low income. Promoting respect for cultural diversity (SDG16) within a human-rights-based approach helps facilitate cultural understanding and peace, prevents conflicts, and protects the rights of marginalised groups.
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This paper presents a review of most important zoonotic diseases that are threatening human World population in the first 20 years of XXI century. Zoonoses diseases naturally transmitted through several modes from vertebrate animal hosts to humans. SARS-CoV-Z - severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, was identified as the cause of an outbreak of COVID-2 pandemic in humans in 2019/2020. Coronavirus positive Chinese bats and an unrecognized yet natural reservoir of emerging SARS-Z, are indicated as a primary source of infection. So far, there is no evidence that companion or farm animals can become infected by contact with a sick/infected person, so SARS-2 virus strains isolated from humans are not zoonotic. This review contains a description of SARS-2 virus structure, genetic diversity, structure and function of viral proteins, including class I viral fusion protein S. The review also includes an assessment of epidemiology of SARS-2 infection, criteria and epidemiological interactions, perspectives on emerging zoonoti'c disease research in contact with public health service. More closed cooperation between different services, including Veterinary Services, with WHO and OIE international standards, as eg. One Health partnership, is essential to avoid or minimize risk of new infections in future.
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The frequent occurrences of emerging infectious diseases in recent years have caused huge burdens on the global economy and society. Climate-driven changes in the natural environment disrupt the ecosystem balance, destroy the habitat of wild animals, affect the survival, transmission and distribution of pathogens and their vectors and intermediate hosts, which contribute to increased risks of infectious diseases. Due to the complex links among climate change, human activity, nature environment, wildlife and pathogens, the challenge of emerging infectious diseases should be addressed with multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral collaboration in the future.
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Objective: To explore the epidemic dynamics of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)in Shandong Province, and to provide a scientific basis for the future prevention and control of new outbreaks of COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases.
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In a world of increased economic and cultural exchanges, the emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are characterized by the global spread, with a significant impact on the world economy and the public health. The international science and technology collaboration on preventing the infectious diseases, and dealing with the challenge of the global public health emergency, is an urgent task. The mechanism of the international science and technology collaboration (ISTC) plays an important role in the prevention and the control of the EIDs. Based on the studies of the recent outbreak of the newest EID, the novel coronavirus pneumonia, the roles of the ISTC during the EIDs prevention and control are analyzed in this paper. It is shown that the EID prevention and control involves several aspects of the ISTC, including the timely exchange of the latest epidemic information, the quick-response joint research, the sharing of antiviral drugs and medical technology, the personnel training and the construction and the improvement of the EID prevention and control system. Finally, this paper puts forward a few policy recommendations with respect to the EID prevention and control from the perspective of the global governance and the ISTC.
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Objectives: This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows: This Cochrane review aims to evaluate the impact of government lockdown (i.e. stay-at-home order or movement control order) during an emerging infectious disease outbreak on mental health in the general population.