RESUMEN
In 1988, poliomyelitis (polio) was targeted for eradication. Global efforts have led to the eradication of two of the three wild poliovirus (WPV) serotypes (types 2 and 3), with only WPV type 1 (WPV1) remaining endemic, and only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This report describes global polio immunization, surveillance activities, and poliovirus epidemiology during January 2022-December 2023, using data current as of April 10, 2024. In 2023, Afghanistan and Pakistan identified 12 total WPV1 polio cases, compared with 22 in 2022. WPV1 transmission was detected through systematic testing for poliovirus in sewage samples (environmental surveillance) in 13 provinces in Afghanistan and Pakistan, compared with seven provinces in 2022. The number of polio cases caused by circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs; circulating vaccine virus strains that have reverted to neurovirulence) decreased from 881 in 2022 to 524 in 2023; cVDPV outbreaks (defined as either a cVDPV case with evidence of circulation or at least two positive environmental surveillance isolates) occurred in 32 countries in 2023, including eight that did not experience a cVDPV outbreak in 2022. Despite reductions in paralytic polio cases from 2022, cVDPV cases and WPV1 cases (in countries with endemic transmission) were more geographically widespread in 2023. Renewed efforts to vaccinate persistently missed children in countries and territories where WPV1 transmission is endemic, strengthen routine immunization programs in countries at high risk for poliovirus transmission, and provide more effective cVDPV outbreak responses are necessary to further progress toward global polio eradication.
Asunto(s)
Erradicación de la Enfermedad , Salud Global , Programas de Inmunización , Poliomielitis , Poliovirus , Vigilancia de la Población , Poliomielitis/epidemiología , Poliomielitis/prevención & control , Humanos , Salud Global/estadística & datos numéricos , Poliovirus/aislamiento & purificación , Brotes de Enfermedades/prevención & control , Vacunas contra Poliovirus/administración & dosificación , Preescolar , Lactante , Vacuna Antipolio Oral/administración & dosificaciónRESUMEN
Scaled interventions are required to address levels of overweight and obesity and reduce health inequalities. Little data is available on the effectiveness of community weight management programmes for participants self-selecting to attend across different socio-economic backgrounds. This analysis investigates 3, 6, and 12-month outcomes of adults joining a real-life community weight management programme. Weight, attendance and Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) data from all fee-paying adults joining Slimming World in 2016 were collated. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to determine predictors of weight loss. Mean BMI of 1 094 676 adults (7.6% male) was 33.0 ± 6.4 kg/m2. Mean % weight change at 3, 6, and 12 months was -5.0% ± 3.6%, -5.9% ± 5.2%, and -6.0% ± 5.8%. Those attending 75% sessions achieved greater weight loss with mean weight losses at 3, 6, and 12-months of 7.7% ± 3.3%, 11.3% ± 5.2%, and 14.1% ± 7.5%, respectively. Effect sizes from comparison of weight change between deprivation deciles were negligible, with similar outcomes in the most and least deprived deciles at 12-months (-5.7% ± 5.9% vs. -6.2% ± 5.9%). This service evaluation of more than 1 million adults attending a community weight management programme found they were able to achieve and/or maintain an average 6% weight loss at 12 months, with high attenders achieving >14% loss. Men and those with higher levels of deprivation were accessing the support and achieving significant weight losses. Slimming World as a real-life, scalable weight management programme is well placed to help adults manage their weight and address health inequalities.
Asunto(s)
Obesidad , Pérdida de Peso , Programas de Reducción de Peso , Humanos , Masculino , Femenino , Programas de Reducción de Peso/métodos , Adulto , Persona de Mediana Edad , Obesidad/terapia , Índice de Masa Corporal , Anciano , Servicios de Salud Comunitaria , Factores Socioeconómicos , Evaluación de Programas y Proyectos de Salud , Sobrepeso/terapia , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0001526.].
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis involves changes to bones that makes them prone to fracture. The most common osteoporotic fracture is vertebral, in which one or more spinal vertebrae collapse. People with vertebral fracture are at high risk of further fractures, however around two-thirds remain undiagnosed. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends bone protection therapies to reduce this risk. This study aimed to co-produce a range of knowledge sharing resources, for healthcare professionals in primary care and patients, to improve access to timely diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: This study comprised three stages: 1. In-depth interviews with primary care healthcare professionals (n = 21) and patients with vertebral fractures (n = 24) to identify barriers and facilitators to diagnosis and treatment. 2. A taxonomy of barriers and facilitators to diagnosis were presented to three stakeholder groups (n = 18), who suggested ways of identifying, diagnosing and treating vertebral fractures. Fourteen recommendations were identified using the nominal group technique. 3. Two workshops were held with stakeholders to co-produce and refine the prototype knowledge sharing resources (n = 12). RESULTS: Stage 1: Factors included lack of patient information about symptoms and risk factors, prioritisation of other conditions and use of self-management. Healthcare professionals felt vertebral fractures were harder to identify in lower risk groups and mistook them for other conditions. Difficulties in communication between primary and secondary care meant that patients were not always informed of their diagnosis, or did not start treatment promptly. Stage 2: 14 recommendations to improve management of vertebral fractures were identified, including for primary care healthcare professionals (n = 9) and patients (n = 5). Stage 3: The need for allied health professionals in primary care to be informed about vertebral fractures was highlighted, along with ensuring that resources appealed to under-represented groups. Prototype resources were developed. Changes included help-seeking guidance and clear explanations of medical language. CONCLUSIONS: The study used robust qualitative methods to co-produce knowledge sharing resources to improve diagnosis. A co-production approach enabled a focus on areas stakeholders thought to be beneficial to timely and accurate diagnosis and treatment. Dissemination of these resources to a range of stakeholders provides potential for substantial reach and spread.
Asunto(s)
Osteoporosis , Fracturas Osteoporóticas , Traumatismos de la Médula Espinal , Fracturas de la Columna Vertebral , Humanos , Fracturas de la Columna Vertebral/diagnóstico , Fracturas de la Columna Vertebral/terapia , Fracturas de la Columna Vertebral/complicaciones , Osteoporosis/complicaciones , Osteoporosis/diagnóstico , Osteoporosis/terapia , Fracturas Osteoporóticas/terapia , Fracturas Osteoporóticas/prevención & control , Columna Vertebral , Traumatismos de la Médula Espinal/complicacionesRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The development of strategies to better detect and manage patients with multiple long-term conditions requires estimates of the most prevalent condition combinations. However, standard meta-analysis tools are not well suited to synthesising heterogeneous multimorbidity data. METHODS: We developed a statistical model to synthesise data on associations between diseases and nationally representative prevalence estimates and applied the model to South Africa. Published and unpublished data were reviewed, and meta-regression analysis was conducted to assess pairwise associations between 10 conditions: arthritis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), depression, diabetes, HIV, hypertension, ischaemic heart disease (IHD), stroke and tuberculosis. The national prevalence of each condition in individuals aged 15 and older was then independently estimated, and these estimates were integrated with the ORs from the meta-regressions in a statistical model, to estimate the national prevalence of each condition combination. RESULTS: The strongest disease associations in South Africa are between COPD and asthma (OR 14.6, 95% CI 10.3 to 19.9), COPD and IHD (OR 9.2, 95% CI 8.3 to 10.2) and IHD and stroke (OR 7.2, 95% CI 5.9 to 8.4). The most prevalent condition combinations in individuals aged 15+ are hypertension and arthritis (7.6%, 95% CI 5.8% to 9.5%), hypertension and diabetes (7.5%, 95% CI 6.4% to 8.6%) and hypertension and HIV (4.8%, 95% CI 3.3% to 6.6%). The average numbers of comorbidities are greatest in the case of COPD (2.3, 95% CI 2.1 to 2.6), stroke (2.1, 95% CI 1.8 to 2.4) and IHD (1.9, 95% CI 1.6 to 2.2). CONCLUSION: South Africa has high levels of HIV, hypertension, diabetes and arthritis, by international standards, and these are reflected in the most prevalent condition combinations. However, less prevalent conditions such as COPD, stroke and IHD contribute disproportionately to the multimorbidity burden, with high rates of comorbidity. This modelling approach can be used in other settings to characterise the most important disease combinations and levels of comorbidity.
Asunto(s)
Modelos Estadísticos , Multimorbilidad , Humanos , Artritis/epidemiología , Asma/epidemiología , Diabetes Mellitus/epidemiología , Infecciones por VIH/epidemiología , Hipertensión/epidemiología , Prevalencia , Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Crónica/epidemiología , Sudáfrica/epidemiología , Accidente Cerebrovascular/epidemiologíaRESUMEN
Characterizing antigen-specific B cells is a critical component of vaccine and infectious disease studies in rhesus macaques (RMs). However, it is challenging to capture immunoglobulin variable (IgV) genes from individual RM B cells using 5' multiplex (MTPX) primers in nested PCR reactions. In particular, the diversity within RM IgV gene leader sequences necessitates large 5' MTPX primer sets to amplify IgV genes, decreasing PCR efficiency. To address this problem, we developed a switching mechanism at the 5' ends of the RNA transcript (SMART)-based method for amplifying IgV genes from single RM B cells to capture Ig heavy and light chain pairs. We demonstrate this technique by isolating simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) envelope-specific antibodies from single-sorted RM memory B cells. This approach has several advantages over existing methods for cloning antibodies from RMs. First, optimized PCR conditions and SMART 5' and 3' rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) reactions generate full-length cDNAs from individual B cells. Second, it appends synthetic primer binding sites to the 5' and 3' ends of cDNA during synthesis, allowing for PCR amplification of low-abundance antibody templates. Third, the nested PCR primer mixes are simplified by employing universal 5' primers, eliminating the need for complex 5' MTPX primer sets. We anticipate this method will enhance the isolation of antibodies from individual RM B cells, supporting the genetic and functional characterization of antigen-specific B cells.
Asunto(s)
Síndrome de Inmunodeficiencia Adquirida del Simio , Virus de la Inmunodeficiencia de los Simios , Animales , Macaca mulatta , Anticuerpos Monoclonales/genética , Células B de Memoria , ADN ComplementarioRESUMEN
The SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, first identified in October 2020, quickly became the dominant variant worldwide. We used publicly available data to explore the relationship between illness and death (peak case rates, death rates, case-fatality rates) and selected predictors (percentage vaccinated, percentage of the population >65 years, population density, testing volume, index of mitigation policies) in 45 high-income countries during the Delta wave using rank-order correlation and ordinal regression. During the Delta-dominant period, most countries reported higher peak case rates (57%) and lower peak case-fatality rates (98%). Higher vaccination coverage was protective against peak case rates (odds ratio 0.95, 95% CI 0.91-0.99) and against peak death rates (odds ratio 0.96, 95% CI 0.91-0.99). Vaccination coverage was vital to preventing infection and death from COVID-19 during the Delta wave. As new variants emerge, public health authorities should encourage the uptake of COVID-19 vaccination and boosters.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Humanos , COVID-19/epidemiología , COVID-19/prevención & control , SARS-CoV-2/genética , Vacunas contra la COVID-19 , Países DesarrolladosRESUMEN
Characterizing antigen-specific B cells is a critical component of vaccine and infectious disease studies in rhesus macaques (RMs). However, it is challenging to capture immunoglobulin variable (IgV) genes from individual RM B cells using 5' multiplex (MTPX) primers in nested PCR reactions. In particular, the diversity within RM IgV gene leader sequences necessitates the use of large 5' MTPX primer sets to amplify IgV genes, decreasing PCR efficiency. To address this problem, we developed a switching mechanism at the 5' ends of the RNA transcript (SMART)-based method for amplifying IgV genes from single RM B cells, providing unbiased capture of Ig heavy and light chain pairs for cloning antibodies. We demonstrate this technique by isolating simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) envelope-specific antibodies from single-sorted RM memory B cells. This approach has several advantages over existing methods for PCR cloning antibodies from RMs. First, optimized PCR conditions and SMART 5' and 3' rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) reactions generate full-length cDNAs from individual B cells. Second, it appends synthetic primer binding sites to the 5' and 3' ends of cDNA during synthesis, allowing for PCR amplification of low-abundance antibody templates. Third, universal 5' primers are employed to amplify the IgV genes from cDNA, simplifying the primer mixes in the nested PCR reactions and improving the recovery of matched heavy and light chain pairs. We anticipate this method will enhance the isolation of antibodies from individual RM B cells, supporting the genetic and functional characterization of antigen-specific B cells.
RESUMEN
Although reinfections with SARS-CoV-2 have occurred in the United States with increasing frequency, U.S. epidemiologic trends in reinfections and associated severe outcomes have not been characterized. Weekly counts of SARS-CoV-2 reinfections, total infections, and associated hospitalizations and deaths reported by 18 U.S. jurisdictions during September 5, 2021-December 31, 2022, were analyzed overall, by age group, and by five periods of SARS-CoV-2 variant predominance (Delta and Omicron [BA.1, BA.2, BA.4/BA.5, and BQ.1/BQ.1.1]). Among reported reinfections, weekly trends in the median intervals between infections and frequencies of predominant variants during previous infections were calculated. As a percentage of all infections, reinfections increased substantially from the Delta (2.7%) to the Omicron BQ.1/BQ.1.1 (28.8%) periods; during the same periods, increases in the percentages of reinfections among COVID-19-associated hospitalizations (from 1.9% [Delta] to 17.0% [Omicron BQ.1/BQ.1.1]) and deaths (from 1.2% [Delta] to 12.3% [Omicron BQ.1/BQ.1.1]) were also substantial. Percentages of all COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths that were reinfections were consistently higher across variant periods among adults aged 18-49 years compared with those among adults aged ≥50 years. The median interval between infections ranged from 269 to 411 days by week, with a steep decline at the start of the BA.4/BA.5 period, when >50% of reinfections occurred among persons previously infected during the Alpha variant period or later. To prevent severe COVID-19 outcomes, including those following reinfection, CDC recommends staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccination and receiving timely antiviral treatments, when eligible.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , SARS-CoV-2 , Adolescente , Adulto , Humanos , COVID-19/diagnóstico , COVID-19/epidemiología , Vacunas contra la COVID-19 , Hospitalización/tendencias , Reinfección/epidemiología , Mortalidad HospitalariaRESUMEN
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an economic, food security, and global health threat accelerated by a multitude of factors including the overuse and misuse of antimicrobials in the human health, animal health, and agriculture sectors. Given the rapid emergence and spread of AMR and the relative lack of development of new antimicrobials or alternative therapies, there is a need to develop and implement non-pharmaceutical AMR mitigation policies and interventions that improve antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) practices across all sectors where antimicrobials are used. We conducted a systematic literature review per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines to identify peer-reviewed studies that described behavior-change interventions that aimed to improve AMS and/or reduce inappropriate antimicrobial use (AMU) among human health, animal health, and livestock agriculture stakeholders. We identified 301 total publications- 11 in the animal health sector and 290 in the human health sector-and assessed described interventions using metrics across five thematic areas- (1) AMU, (2) adherence to clinical guidelines, (3) AMS, (4) AMR, and (5) clinical outcomes. The lack of studies describing the animal health sector precluded a meta-analysis. Variation across intervention type, study type, and outcome precluded a meta-analysis for studies describing the human health sector; however, a summary descriptive analysis was conducted. Among studies in the human health sector, 35.7% reported significant (p<0.05) pre- to post-intervention decreases in AMU, 73.7% reported significant improvements in adherence of antimicrobial therapies to clinical guidelines, 45% demonstrated significant improvements in AMS practices, 45.5% reported significant decreases in the proportion of isolates that were resistant to antibiotics or the proportion of patients with drug-resistant infections across 17 antimicrobial-organism combinations. Few studies reported significant changes in clinical outcomes. We did not identify any overarching intervention type nor characteristics associated with successful improvement in AMS, AMR, AMU, adherence, nor clinical outcomes.
RESUMEN
The global COVID-19 response focused heavily on nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) until vaccines became available. Even where vaccination coverage is low, over time governments have become increasingly reluctant to use NPIs. Inequities in vaccine and treatment accessibility and coverage, differences in vaccine effectiveness, waning immunity, and immune-escape variants of concern of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reinforce the long-term need for mitigation. Initially, the concept of NPIs, and mitigation more broadly, was focused on prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission; however, mitigation can and has done more than prevent transmission. It has been used to address the clinical dimensions of the pandemic as well. The authors propose an expanded conceptualization of mitigation that encompasses a continuum of community and clinical mitigation measures that can help reduce infection, illness, and death from COVID-19. It can further help governments balance these efforts and address the disruptions in essential health services, increased violence, adverse mental health outcomes, and orphanhood precipitated by the pandemic and by NPIs themselves. The COVID-19 pandemic response revealed the benefits of a holistic and layered mitigation approach to public health emergencies from the outset. Lessons learned can inform the next phases of the current pandemic response and planning for future public health emergencies.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Urgencias Médicas , Salud Pública , Humanos , COVID-19/epidemiología , COVID-19/prevención & control , Pandemias , SARS-CoV-2RESUMEN
Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a mycotoxin known to impair human and animal health. It is also believed to have a deleterious effect on ruminal nutrient digestibility under in vitro batch culture systems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of increasing the dose of AFB1 on ruminal dry matter and nutrient digestibility, fermentation profile, and N flows using a dual-flow continuous culture system fed a diet formulated for lactating dairy cows. Eight fermenter vessels were used in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design with 10 d periods (7 d adaptation and 3 d sample collection). Treatments were randomly applied to fermenters on diet DM basis: (1) 0 µg of AFB1/kg of DM (Control); (2) 50 µg of AFB1/kg of DM (AF50); (3) 100 µg of AFB1/kg of DM (AF100); and (4) 150 µg of AFB1/kg of DM (AF150). Treatments did not affect nutrient digestibility, fermentation, and N flows. Aflatoxin B1 concentration in ruminal fluid increased with dose but decreased to undetectable levels after 4 h post-dosing. In conclusion, adding incremental doses of AFB1 did not affect ruminal fermentation, digestibility of nutrients, and N flows in a dual-flow continuous culture system fed diets formulated for lactating dairy cows.
Asunto(s)
Lactancia , Leche , Animales , Bovinos , Femenino , Humanos , Aflatoxina B1/metabolismo , Alimentación Animal/análisis , Dieta/veterinaria , Fermentación , Nutrientes , Rumen/metabolismoRESUMEN
Familiar music facilitates memory retrieval in adults with dementia. However, mechanisms behind this effect, and its generality, are unclear because of a lack of parallel work in healthy aging. Exposure to familiar music enhances spontaneous recall of memories directly cued by the music, but it is unknown whether such effects extend to deliberate recall more generally - e.g., to memories not directly linked to the music being played. It is also unclear whether familiar music boosts recall of specific episodes versus more generalised semantic memories, or whether effects are driven by domain-general mechanisms (e.g., improved mood). In a registered report study, we examined effects of familiar music on deliberate recall in healthy adults ages 65-80 years (N = 75) by presenting familiar music from earlier in life, unfamiliar music, and non-musical audio clips across three sessions. After each clip, we assessed free recall of remote memories for pre-selected events. Contrary to our hypotheses, we found no effects of music exposure on recall of prompted events, though familiar music evoked spontaneous memories most often. These results suggest that effects of familiar music on recall may be limited to memories specifically evoked in response to the music (Preprint and registered report protocol at https://osf.io/kjnwd/).
Asunto(s)
Envejecimiento Saludable , Memoria Episódica , Humanos , Adulto , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Semántica , Recuerdo Mental/fisiología , Señales (Psicología)RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: To help distinguish vaccine-related adverse events following immunization (AEFI) from coincidental occurrences, active vaccine pharmacovigilance (VP) prospective surveillance programs are needed. From February to May 2021, we assessed the system and facility readiness for implementing active AEFI VP surveillance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: Selected hospitals were assessed using a readiness assessment tool with scoring measures. The site assessment was conducted via in-person interviews within the specific departments in each hospital. We evaluated the system readiness with a desk review of AEFI guidelines, Expanded Program for Immunization Guidelines and Ethiopian Food and Drug Administration and Ethiopian Public Health Institute websites. RESULTS: Of the hospitals in Addis Ababa, 23.1% met the criteria for our site assessment. During the system readiness assessment, we found that essential components were in place. However, rules, regulations and proclamations pertaining to AEFI surveillance were absent. Based on the tool, the three hospitals (A, B and C) scored 60.6% (94/155), 48.3% (75/155) and 40% (62/155), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Only one of three hospitals assessed in our evaluation scored >50% for readiness to implement active AEFI surveillance. We also identified the following areas for improvement to ensure successful implementation: training, making guidelines and reporting forms available and ensuring a system that accommodates paper-based and electronic-based recording systems.
Asunto(s)
Sistemas de Registro de Reacción Adversa a Medicamentos , Inmunización , Espera Vigilante , Humanos , Etiopía , Inmunización/efectos adversos , Estudios Prospectivos , Vacunación/efectos adversos , Vacunas/efectos adversosRESUMEN
T-cell responses to minor histocompatibility antigens (mHAs) mediate graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effects and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. Therapies that boost T-cell responses improve allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (alloHCT) efficacy but are limited by concurrent increases in the incidence and severity of GVHD. mHAs with expression restricted to hematopoietic tissue (GVL mHAs) are attractive targets for driving GVL without causing GVHD. Prior work to identify mHAs has focused on a small set of mHAs or population-level single-nucleotide polymorphism-association studies. We report the discovery of a large set of novel GVL mHAs based on predicted immunogenicity, tissue expression, and degree of sharing among donor-recipient pairs (DRPs) in the DISCOVeRY-BMT data set of 3231 alloHCT DRPs. The total number of predicted mHAs varied by HLA allele, and the total number and number of each class of mHA significantly differed by recipient genomic ancestry group. From the pool of predicted mHAs, we identified the smallest sets of GVL mHAs needed to cover 100% of DRPs with a given HLA allele. We used mass spectrometry to search for high-population frequency mHAs for 3 common HLA alleles. We validated 24 predicted novel GVL mHAs that are found cumulatively within 98.8%, 60.7%, and 78.9% of DRPs within DISCOVeRY-BMT that express HLA-A∗02:01, HLA-B∗35:01, and HLA-C∗07:02, respectively. We confirmed the immunogenicity of an example novel mHA via T-cell coculture with peptide-pulsed dendritic cells. This work demonstrates that the identification of shared mHAs is a feasible and promising technique for expanding mHA-targeting immunotherapeutics.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedad Injerto contra Huésped , Trasplante de Células Madre Hematopoyéticas , Leucemia , Humanos , Enfermedad Injerto contra Huésped/inmunología , Leucemia/genética , Leucemia/terapia , Antígenos de Histocompatibilidad Menor/genética , Antígenos de Histocompatibilidad Menor/inmunología , Trasplante Homólogo , Masculino , Femenino , Adolescente , Adulto Joven , Adulto , Persona de Mediana Edad , Antígenos HLA/inmunología , Linfocitos T/inmunología , Células Dendríticas/inmunologíaRESUMEN
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supports international partners in introducing vaccines, including those against SARS-CoV-2 virus. CDC contributes to the development of global technical tools, guidance, and policy for COVID-19 vaccination and has established its COVID-19 International Vaccine Implementation and Evaluation (CIVIE) program. CIVIE supports ministries of health and their partner organizations in developing or strengthening their national capacities for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of COVID-19 vaccination programs. CIVIE's 7 priority areas for country-specific technical assistance are vaccine policy development, program planning, vaccine confidence and demand, data management and use, workforce development, vaccine safety, and evaluation. We discuss CDC's work on global COVID-19 vaccine implementation, including priorities, challenges, opportunities, and applicable lessons learned from prior experiences with Ebola, influenza, and meningococcal serogroup A conjugate vaccine introductions.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Vacunas contra la Influenza , Estados Unidos/epidemiología , Humanos , Vacunas contra la COVID-19 , SARS-CoV-2 , COVID-19/prevención & control , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.RESUMEN
Early warning and response surveillance (EWARS) systems were widely used during the early COVID-19 response. Evaluating the effectiveness of EWARS systems is critical to ensuring global health security. We describe the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) global COVID-19 EWARS (CDC EWARS) system and the resources CDC used to gather, manage, and analyze publicly available data during the prepandemic period. We evaluated data quality and validity by measuring reporting completeness and compared these with data from Johns Hopkins University, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and indicator-based data from the World Health Organization. CDC EWARS was integral in guiding CDC's early COVID-19 response but was labor-intensive and became less informative as case-level data decreased and the pandemic evolved. However, CDC EWARS data were similar to those reported by other organizations, confirming the validity of each system and suggesting collaboration could improve EWARS systems during future pandemics.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Estados Unidos/epidemiología , Humanos , COVID-19/epidemiología , COVID-19/prevención & control , Pandemias/prevención & control , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. , Organización Mundial de la Salud , Salud GlobalRESUMEN
Objective: Fatigue is a challenging feature of all inflammatory rheumatic diseases. LIFT (Lessening the Impact of Fatigue in inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a randomized Trial) included remotely delivered personalized exercise programme (PEP) or cognitive-behavioural approach (CBA) interventions. The aim of this nested qualitative evaluation was to understand rheumatology health professionals' (therapists') perspectives of delivering the interventions in the LIFT trial. Methods: A subgroup of therapists who had delivered the personalized exercise programme (PEP) and cognitive-behavioural approach (CBA) interventions took part in semi-structured telephone interviews. Results: Seventeen therapists (13 women and 4 men) who delivered PEP (n = 8) or CBA (n = 9) interventions participated. Five themes were identified. In 'The benefits of informative, structured training', therapists described how they were able to practice their skills, and the convenience of having the LIFT manual for reference. When 'Getting into the swing of it', supporting patients gave therapists the confidence to tailor the content of the manual to each patient. Clinical supervision supported therapists to gain feedback and request assistance when required. In 'Delivering the intervention', therapists reported that patients valued the opportunity to talk about their fatigue and challenge their beliefs. In 'Challenges in delivering the LIFT intervention', therapists struggled to work in partnership with patients who lacked motivation or stopped engaging. Finally, in 'LIFT developing clinical skills', therapists gained confidence and professional satisfaction, seeing patients' fatigue improve over time. Conclusion: The findings support the provision of training for rheumatology health professionals to remotely deliver fatigue-management interventions. Insights from these trials can be used to better improve clinical practice and service provision.
RESUMEN
Oral antivirals for COVID-19 can be game changers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Challenges that may hinder current and future oral antiviral rollouts span use in special populations, drug-drug and herb-drug interactions, adverse events, development of resistance, black markets, and equity in access and prescribing. Future antivirals may address some of these barriers; however, health systems around the world should be equipped to receive and administer COVID-19 oral antivirals. Improvements in manufacturing capacity, community engagement, capacity for testing and linkage to care, and systems for surveillance and safety monitoring could "change the game" for LMICs, irrespective of any specific antiviral drug. Investments in health care infrastructure can promote resilience, not only for COVID-19 but also for future local and global health crises.