Results of an exercise to estimate the costs of interpersonal violence in Jamaica / Resultados de un ejercicio para estimar el costo de la violencia interpersonal en Jamaica

This report describes the application of a draft version of the World Health Organization (WHO)/ United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Manual for estimating the economic costs of injuries due to interpersonal and self-directed violence to measure costs of injuries from interpersonal violence. METHODS: Fatal incidence data was obtained from the Jamaica Constabulary Force. The incidence of nonfatal violence-related injuries that required hospitalization was estimated using data obtained from patients treated at and/or admitted to three Type A government hospitals in 2006. RESULTS: During 2006, direct medical cost (J$2.1 billion) of injuries due to interpersonal violence accounted for about 12% of Jamaica's total health budget while productivity losses due to violence-related injuries accounted for approximately J$27.5 billion or 160% of Jamaica's total health expenditure and 4% of Jamaica's Gross Domestic Product. CONCLUSIONS: The availability of accurate and reliable data of the highest quality from health-related information systems is critical for providing useful data on the burden of violence and injury to decision-makers. As Ministries of Health take a leading role in violence and injury prevention, data collection and information systems must have a central role. This study describes the results of one approach to examining the economic burden of interpersonal violence in developing countries where the burden of violence is heaviest. The WHO-CDC manual also tested in Thailand and Brazil is a first step towards generating a reference point for resource allocation, priority setting and prevention advocacy.

Este reporte describe la aplicación de una versión preliminar del Manual de Centros de Estados Unidos para el control y prevención de enfermedades (CDC)/Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), para estimar el costo económico de las heridas debidas a la violencia interpersonal y la violencia auto-dirigida, con el fin de evaluar los costos de las heridas por violencia interpersonal. MÉTODOS: Datos sobre las incidencias fatales fueron obtenidos de las Oficinas de la Policía de Jamaica. La incidencia de las heridas no fatales relacionadas con la violencia, pero que no obstante requirieron hospitalización, se calculó a partir de pacientes tratados o ingresados en hospitales gubernamentales del tipo A, en el año 2006. RESULTADOS: Durante el 2006, el costo médico directo (2.1 billones JMD) por heridas a causa de violencia interpersonal, representó alrededor del 12% del total del presupuesto para la salud en Jamaica, mientras que las pérdidas de productividad debido a heridas relacionadas con la violencia, representaron aproximadamente 37.5 billones JMD, o 160% del total de gastos de salud y el 4% del producto interno bruto de Jamaica. CONCLUSIONES: Disponer de datos confiables y exactos de la más alta calidad provenientes de los sistemas de información relacionados con la salud, resulta crucial a las hora de suministrar datos útiles sobre la carga de la violencia y las heridas para quienes tienen a su cargo las tomas de decisiones. Como que los Ministros de Salud desempeñan un papel dirigente en la prevención de las heridas y la violencia, la recogida de datos y los sistemas de información tienen que jugar un papel central. Este estudio describe los resultados de un enfoque para examinar la carga económica de la violencia interpersonal en los países en vías de desarrollo, en los cuales la carga de la violencia es más pesada. El manual CDC-OMS también probado en Tailandia y Brasil, es un primer paso hacia la generación de un punto de referencia para asignar recursos, establecer prioridades y defender la prevención.

Threat to Humans from Virus Infections of Non-human Primates.

Several hundred distinct non human primate species are recognised, and they are likely to harbour a similar range of viruses to humans. Simians such as cynomolgus and rhesus macaques, African green monkeys, and marmosets are widely used for biomedical research, but despite this extensive close contact very few simian viruses have been shown to pose a threat of infection or illness to humans. Herpesvirus Simiae is the best recognised zoonotic hazard of simians. It is an alphaherpes virus of Asiatic macaques, which causes a mild or subclinical primary infection followed by latency in its natural host. It can be acquired by humans following a bite and causes an ascending meningoencephalitis. Less than 40 human cases have been described and the mortality rate in untreated human infections is 70%. The infection is treatable with acyclovir and extensive guidelines for managing simians and potential exposures have been developed. Ebola virus and Marburg virus have caused epizootics in cynomolgus macaques and vervet monkeys respectively, which have resulted in human infection and fatalities. However, non human primates are unlikely to be their natural host. More recently simian immunodeficiency virus and simian foamy virus have infected researchers, but infection has not been linked to illness. Simian viruses also pose a direct threat to humans through the use of primary monkey tissue cultures in laboratory work and vaccine manufacture, indeed a significant exposure of the human population occurred when cells contaminated with SV40 a polyomavirus of rhesus monkeys were used for polio vaccine production. New medical interventions such as xenotransplantation using primate organs pose a potential risk which requires careful assessment. Copyright 1997 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Viral meningitis in Cyprus and England : summer 1996.

An outbreak of viral meningitis began in Cyprus on 5 July 1996. By 28 August a total of 316 cases had been admitted to hospital, most of whom were infants and young children; 55 (17%) were less than 1 year of age, 117 (37%) were aged 1 to 4 years, 103 (33