Psychological Impact During the First Outbreak of COVID-19 on Frontline Health Care Workers in Shanghai.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a significant health threat. Health care worker (HCWs) are at a significant risk of infection which may cause high levels of psychological distress. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychological impact of the COVID-19 on HCWs and factors which were associated with these stresses during the first outbreak in Shanghai. Methods: Between February 9 and 21, 2020, a total of 3,114 frontline HCWs from 26 hospitals in Shanghai completed an online survey. The questionnaire included questions on their sociodemographic characteristics, 15 stress-related questions, and General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12). Exploratory factor analysis was applied to the 15 stress-related questions which produced four distinct factors for evaluation. Multiple linear regression models were performed to explore the association of personal characteristics with each score of the four factors. Binary logistic analysis was used to explain the association of personal characteristics and these four factors with the GHQ-12. Results: There were 2,691 valid surveys received. The prevalence of emotional distress (defined as GHQ-12 ≥ 12) was noted in 47.7% (95%CI:45.7-49.6%) HCWs. Females (OR = 1.43, 95%CI:1.09-1.86) were more likely to have a psychological distress than males. However, HCWs who work in secondary hospitals (OR = 0.71, 95% CI:0.58-0.87) or had a no contact history (OR = 0.45, 95%CI: 0.35-0.58) were less likely to suffer psychological distress. HCWs who were nurses, married, and had a known contact history were highly likely to have anxiety. HCWs working at tertiary hospitals felt an elevated anxiety regarding the infection, a lack of knowledge, and less protected compared to those who worked at secondary hospitals. Conclusions: Our study shows that the frontline HCWs had a significant psychosocial distress during the COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai. HCWs felt a lack of knowledge and had feelings of being not protected. It is necessary for hospitals and governments to provide additional trainings and psychological counseling to support the first-line HCWs.

African swine fever: A permanent threat to Indian pigs.

India has 9 million pigs, of which 45% are in the North eastern (NE) states of India. Viral diseases affecting pigs are a major concern of mortality causing huge loss to the pig farmers. One such disease is African swine fever (ASF) that has already knocked the porous borders of NE states of India. ASF is a highly contagious devastating disease of pigs and wild boars causing 100% mortality. The causative agent African swine fever virus (ASFV) belongs to the genus Asfivirus, family Asfarviridae. Pig is the only species affected by this virus. Soft ticks (Ornithodoros genus) are shown to be reservoir and transmission vectors of ASFV. Transmission is very rapid and quickly engulfs the entire pig population. It is very difficult to differentiate classical swine fever from ASF since clinical symptoms overlap. Infected and in contact pigs should be culled immediately and buried deep, and sheds and premises be disinfected to control the disease. There is no vaccine available commercially. Since its first report in Kenya in 1921, the disease has been reported from the countries in Europe, Russian federation, China, and Myanmar. The disease is a threat to Indian pigs. OIE published the first report of ASF in India on May 21, 2020, wherein, a total of 3701 pigs died from 11 outbreaks (Morbidity - 38.45% and mortality - 33.89%) in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh states of India. ASF is non-zoonotic.

Description of the first Schmallenberg disease outbreak in Spain and subsequent virus spreading in domestic ruminants.

Schmallenberg disease (SBD) is an emerging disease transmitted mainly among ruminant species by biting midges of the genus Culicoides. Since the Schmallenberg virus (SBV) was first identified in Germany in late 2011, it rapidly spread to other European countries. The aims of the present study were to describe the first SBD outbreak in Spain and to assess the spread and risk factors associated with SBV infection in domestic ruminants from nearby farms during the following year. In March 2012, one malformed stillborn lamb from a sheep farm located in Cordoba province (Southern Spain) was subjected to necropsy. Pathological compatible lesions and molecular analyses confirmed the first SBV infection in Spain. Afterwards, serum samples from 505 extensively reared domestic ruminants from 29 farms were analysed using both blocking ELISA and virus neutralization test against SBV. The overall seroprevalence was 54.4% (CI95%: 50.0-58.7). Antibodies were detected in 70.6%, 46.0% and 34.8% of cattle, sheep and goats, respectively. A generalized estimating equation model indicated that the main risk factors associated with SBV infection were: species (cattle), age (adult), and absence of animal insecticide treatment. Pathological and molecular results confirmed the presence of SBV in Spain few months after it was firstly identified in Germany. The seroprevalence detected indicates a widespread circulation of SBV in nearby domestic ruminant farms one year after this first outbreak was reported in Spain. Further studies are warranted to determine the spatio-temporal trend of SBV in domestic ruminants in this country.

Incidence, management and outcomes of the first cfr-mediated linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis outbreak in a tertiary referral centre in the Republic of Ireland.

AIM: To report the first Irish outbreak of cfr-mediated linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis. METHODS: Linezolid-resistant S. epidermidis isolated at University Hospital Limerick from four blood cultures, one wound and four screening swabs (from nine patients) between April and June 2013 were characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) and staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCCmec) typing. Antibiotic susceptibilities were determined according to the guidelines of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. The outbreak was controlled through prohibiting prescription and use of linezolid, adherence to infection prevention and control practices, enhanced environmental cleaning, isolation of affected patients, and hospital-wide education programmes. FINDINGS: PFGE showed that all nine isolates represented a single clonal strain. MLST showed that they belonged to ST2, and SCCmec typing showed that they encoded a variant of SCCmecIII. All nine isolates were cfr positive, and eight isolates were positive for the G2576T 23S rRNA mutation commonly associated with linezolid resistance. Isolates exhibited multiple antibiotic resistances (i.e. linezolid, gentamicin, methicillin, clindamycin, ciprofloxacin, fusidic acid and rifampicin). The adopted infection prevention intervention was effective, and the outbreak was limited to the affected intensive care unit. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first documented outbreak of cfr-mediated linezolid-resistant S. epidermidis in the Republic of Ireland. Despite this, and due to existing outbreak management protocols, the responsible micro-organism and source were identified efficiently. However, it became apparent that staff knowledge of antimicrobial susceptibilities and appropriate hygiene practices were suboptimal at the time of the outbreak, and that educational interventions (and re-inforcement) are necessary to avoid occurrence of antimicrobial resistance and outbreaks such as reported here.

The First Outbreak of Shigellosis Caused by Shigella dysenteriae Type 8 in Korea / 대한임상미생물학회지

BACKGROUND: In May 2004, an outbreak of a diarrheal disease occurred among tourists returning from Mt. Geumgang in North Korea; Shigella dysenteriaetype 8 was isolated from 12 of the 36 patients who were suffering from diarrhea. We investigated the genetic relatedness of the isolates. METHODS: The isolates were identified by VITEK system an serotyped by a slide agglutination test. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by the disk diffusion method and genetic relatedness was examined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). RESULTS: All 12 isolates were identified as Shigella spp., and agglutinated by S. dysenteriae type 8 antisera. All of these isolates showed the same antibiotic susceptibility pattern, and were resistant to streptomycin, tetracycline and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. PFGE patterns were classified into 2 types, sdx1 and sdx2, and the relatedness between these two types was 80.5%. Eleven isolates belonged to sdx1. CONCLUSION: The antibiotic susceptibility pattern and genetic relatedness of the isolates strongly suggest that they were from the same origin. Because this is the first report of S. dysenteriae type 8 isolation in Korea, and all of these cases were related to foreign travel, the surveillance system and the ability of the clinical laboratory should be strengthened to prevent the entry and spread of rare and hitherto not reported infectious agents into Korea.