RESUMO
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic required a rapid and effective response. This included ethical and legally appropriate sharing of data. The European Commission (EC) called upon the Research Data Alliance (RDA) to recruit experts worldwide to quickly develop recommendations and guidelines for COVID-related data sharing. Purpose: The purpose of the present work was to explore how the RDA succeeded in engaging the participation of its community of scientists in a rapid response to the EC request. Methods: A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed among RDA COVID-19 work group members. A mixed-methods approach was used for analysis of the survey data. Results: The three constructs of radical collaboration (inclusiveness, distributed digital practices, productive and sustainable collaboration) were found to be well supported in both the quantitative and qualitative analyses of the survey data. Other social factors, such as motivation and group identity were also found to be important to the success of this extreme collaborative effort. Conclusions: Recommendations and suggestions for future work were formulated for consideration by the RDA to strengthen effective expert collaboration and interdisciplinary efforts.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Individuals residing in institutionalized living facilities are currently a high-risk group as regards scabies outbreaks. This study is aimed at analyzing the characteristics of one of these outbreaks, which occurred at a senior citizen living facility located in the municipality of Barbastro (Huesca) through the Huesca Provincial Epidemiological Monitoring Division. METHODS: Following the initial notification of cases, a specific scabies prevention protocol was set out. An epidemiological investigation was conducted, proceeding to an active search for cases among all of the individuals residing or working at the facility in question. The information gathered on the cases and contacts by means of a validated survey was included in a database using Epiinfo 6.0. The attack rate and the relative risk of those residing in each area of the center were estimated, taking as a reference that having the lowest attack rate. RESULTS: A total of nineteen (18 and 1 respectively) cases of scabies were detected among the 104 residents and 20 workers employed at the facility. The source of the outbreak could not be specifically determined, although at least two of the first cases had begun to show some symptoms six months prior to their detection. The average delay in diagnosis was 53 days. This outbreak had a greater effect on the males in the assisted living quarters (TA = 77%; RR = 18.5, C195% = 2.7-128.7). The only employee affected was the person in charge of this area, who had not employed the universal personal protection measures during his caregiving tasks. CONCLUSIONS: This is a scabies outbreak at a senior citizen living facility, probably due to the delay in diagnosing the first cases and the failure on the part of one caregiver to have employed the personal protection measures. A specific scabies-prevention protocol having been implemented was fundamental for the control of this outbreak.