The trends of acute hepatitis A and hepatitis E during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan

Introduction: The prevalence of various infectious diseases has been changing since the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Hepatitis A (HA) is transmitted from food and drink contaminated with the hepatitis A virus, while hepatitis E (HE) is a known zoonotic disease. The trends of HA and HE infection during the COVID-19 pandemic are unknown in Japan. Objective(s): In this study, we investigated the incidence of HA and HE before and after the COVID-19 epidemic, and compared the differences in trends between our hospital and Japanese statistics. Method(s): We investigated the number of IgA-HEV and IgM-HAV antibodies tested and positive at our hospital between January 2015 and December 2021. We verified the patient background, blood test findings and outcome of each antibody-positive. Result(s): The number of HE diagnoses /tests (rate) was 2 /187 (1.1%) in 2015, 2 /155 (1.3%) in 2016, 7 /236 (3.0%) in 2017, 11 /234 (4.7%) in 2018 and 15/ 307 (4.9%) in 2019, which was an increasing trend, but the number of tests remained the same but the number of diagnoses decreased 6 /314 (1.9%) in 2020, 2 /296 (1.0%) in 2021. According to Japanese statistics, the number of HE diagnoses showed a gradual increase from 213 in 2015 to 490 in 2019, but a slight decrease was reported in 441 in 2020 and 447 cases in 2021, respectively. On the other hand, there was no marked change in the number of HA diagnoses/tests between 2015 and 2019. 7 cases of HIV co-infection and an epidemic among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) were observed in 2018. The number of cases decreased markedly to 0 /362 (0%) in 2020 and 0 /339 (0%) in 2021. In Japan, the number of HA diagnoses was in the 200 s from 2015 to 2017, while 925 cases were diagnosed in 2018 and 425 cases in 2019, indicating an epidemic, but the number of HA diagnoses has decreased significantly to 118 in 2020 and 69 in 2021. Conclusion(s): The number of cases of HE, a zoonosis, was reported to have decreased slightly nationwide, even with the coronary disaster, but the number of cases decreased markedly at our facility in Tokyo, suggesting the influence of changes in the lifestyle and activity patterns of the patient population. On the other hand, the number of cases of HA, which had been prevalent in recent years as a result of sexual contact among MSM, has decreased, probably due to a decrease in the influx of cases from overseas as a result of travel restrictions.

How do the causal structures of noise annoyance and sleep effects change under the significant decrease in aircraft noise

Many models have been proposed to clarify the interactive effects of acoustic and non-acoustic variables on human perception of noise. Due to the corona pandemic, all flights were closed at the end of March 2020, causing an unprecedented change in the acoustic environment around Tan Son Nhat Airport (TSN). Before the outbreak, TSN was the busiest airport in Vietnam and had severe noise problems. This study focused on determining how acoustic and non-acoustic factors affect community health before and after this change. Approximately 1200 responses were obtained from surveys conducted in 12 residential areas around TSN in 2019 and 2020. Structural equation models (SEM) for noise annoyance and insomnia were developed by linking the questionnaire items of the social surveys. The first effort aims to achieve a common model of noise annoyance and insomnia corresponding to community response to noise before and after the change. It has been found that the degrees of annoyance and insomnia were not reduced, as expected, but increased in 2020. The final constructed SEM indicates that acoustic and non-acoustic factors affected the community health in different structures before and after the noise reduction. © 2022 Internoise 2022 - 51st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering. All rights reserved.

Effects of the reduction of aircraft noise emission due to the travel restriction during the COVID-19 pandemic at residential areas around tan son nhat international airport

The travel restrictions caused by the epidemic outbreak in early 2020 worldwide have caused many changes in all aspects of life, especially in the acoustic environment. This study examines the impact of this environmental change at Tan Son Nhat International Airport (TSN), the largest airport in Vietnam, by comparing the situations before and after the airport stopped operating all international flights in March 2020. The “before” survey was conducted in August 2019, and two “after” surveys were conducted in June and September 2020, three months and six months after the stop decision. The number of flights observed in August 2019 was 728;this number is 413 and 299 for the two surveys in 2020. The range of noise levels estimated for 12 sites around TSN decreased from 45-81 dB in 2019 to 41-76 dB in June 2020 and 41-73 dB in September 2020. At the same aircraft noise level, the percentage of highly annoyed (% HA) and the percentage of insomnia (%ISM) in the 2020 survey are higher than those in the 2019 survey. This finding for TSN's case indicates that there is still a possibility that the numbers of negative responses become higher in the context of reduced noise. © INTER-NOISE 2021 .All right reserved.