scholarly journals Epidemiology of mumps outbreaks and the impact of an additional dose of MMR vaccine for outbreak control in regional Queensland, Australia, 2017–2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacina Walker ◽  
Odewumi Adegbija ◽  
Nicolas Smoll ◽  
Arifuzzaman Khan ◽  
Jordan Whicker ◽  
...  

Background In recent years, there have been ongoing outbreaks of mumps reported in Northern and North-Western Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, Australia. We aimed to define the epidemiology of mumps outbreaks in Central Queensland, Australia between October 2017 and October 2018 and evaluate the effectiveness of an additional dose of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. Methods A retrospective case control study was conducted, including outbreak investigations with laboratory-confirmed cases of mumps and subsequent comparison with matched controls. We analysed mandatory notifications from the Queensland Health Notifiable Conditions System database and immunisation information from the Queensland Health Vaccination Information and Admin System (VIVAS) and the Australian Immunisation Register. Results Between October 2017 and October 2018, there were 93 cases of mumps reported in Central Queensland with three distinct outbreaks: a discrete Indigenous community; a correctional facility; and a boarding school. Among all cases, 74 (79.6%) were fully vaccinated and 14 (15.1%) were partially vaccinated with MMR vaccine. Eighty-six cases (92.5%) were reported among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In all outbreaks, an additional dose of MMR vaccine was offered with 35.4%, 73.6% and 35.8% of the target population being immunised in the discrete Indigenous community, the correctional facility and the boarding school, respectively. Prior to this additional dose of MMR, the mumps attack rate was 31.0 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 24.2–39.0) per 1000 population, compared to the post-additional dose MMR attack rate of 10.6 (95% CI: 6.7–15.9) per 1000 population. Conclusion An additional or booster dose of MMR should be included as an effective public health intervention strategy, particularly in communal or high-density living conditions to control mumps outbreaks in highly vaccinated populations.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biao Tang ◽  
Xue Zhang ◽  
Qian Li ◽  
Nicola Bragazzi ◽  
Dasantila Golemi-Kotra ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Mass immunization is a potentially effective approach to finally control the local outbreak and global spread of COVID-19 pandemic. However, it can also lead to undesirable outcomes if mass vaccination results in increased transmission effective contacts and relaxation of other public health interventions due to the perceived immunity from the vaccine. Methods: We designed a mathematical model of COVID-19 transmission dynamics that takes into consideration the epidemiological status, public health intervention status (quarantined/isolated), immunity status of the population, and the strain variations. Comparing the control reproduction numbers and the final epidemic sizes (attack rate) in the cases with and without vaccination, we quantified some key factors determining when vaccination in the population is beneficial for preventing and controlling future outbreaks. Results: Our analyses predicted that there is a critical (minimal) vaccine efficacy rate (or a critical quarantine rate) below which the control reproduction number with vaccination is higher than that without vaccination, and the final attack rate in the population is also higher with the vaccination. We also predicted the worst case scenario occurs when a high vaccine coverage is achieved for a vaccine with lower efficacy rate and when the vaccines increase the transmission efficient contacts.Conclusions: The analyses show that an immunization program with a vaccine efficacy rate below the predicted critical values will not be as effective as simply investing in the contact tracing/quarantine/isolation implementation. We reached similar conclusions by considering the final epidemic size (or attack rates). This research then highlights the importance of monitoring the impact on transmissibility and vaccine efficacy of emerging strains.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
K Ahn ◽  
N Khan ◽  
N Desai ◽  
M Abdu ◽  
L Hiddema ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an acute severe respiratory distress syndrome which resulted in an unprecedented impact on NHS service provision. We aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on general surgical services in a district general hospital. Method Electronic health care record data was retrospectively collected from 6th of April to 6th of May for both 2019 and 2020. Results Despite fewer referrals and admissions in 2020 (133 vs 177 admissions in 2019), there were more failed discharges (29 vs 17 in 2019) and higher associated costs. Higher numbers of biliary related pathologies and pancreatitis (50 in 2020 vs 25 in 2019), and fewer complaints of non-specific abdominal pain (10 in 2020 vs 22 in 2019) were observed. The use of outpatient investigations decreased by approximately 40% in 2020; however, utilisation of inpatient investigations was comparable. Conclusions Better utilisation of outpatient investigations and virtual clinic services may surmount pressures from further peaks of COVID-19. The increase in biliary related cases and pancreatitis may be consequent upon lifestyle changes during lockdown. This merits further investigation and if appropriate, public health intervention. In the absence of an efficacious vaccine, further research would be essential to streamline general surgical services based on clinical risk stratification.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089011712110553
Author(s):  
Cheryl Jones ◽  
Marley Gibbons ◽  
Kate Magsamen-Conrad ◽  
Kathleen T. Ulanday ◽  
Jessica Watterson ◽  
...  

Purpose To test the feasibility of introducing ‘Free Time for Wellness’ (FT4W) an intervention to increase healthy behaviours and reduce the risk of cancer. Design Feasibility study; Setting: Washington Heights, New York, USA is a low socioeconomic status area. Subjects Mothers aged 18 and above with children under 12 years of age and living in Washington Heights were recruited. Intervention FT4W, a community-based intervention delivered through a neighbourhood-based app, offering weekly dance and yoga classes, food pantry visits and group playdates. Childcare professionals cared for participants' children during wellness activities. Measures A bespoke before and after survey was designed and tested for its ability to collect relevant data to assess the impact of FT4W. Outcomes included recruitment rates, participation, attrition, acceptability, and success of the community champion. Analysis Comparisons of proportions and means Results Twenty-one mothers participated in the study of which 90% attended ≥ 1 FT4W activity; 65% ≥ 2; 52% ≥ 3. The survey was completed by a 100% of participants indicating it was easy to understand and not too burdensome. All measures detected change in constructs from baseline to follow-up. Availability of childcare was the most commonly (66%) reported reason participants were able to engage in the offered wellness activities. Conclusion Conducting a larger-scale trial to assess the impact of FT4W is feasible considering 4 major lessons. (1) Recruitment, retention, and acceptability rates were high; however, moms need additional support to increase participation in wellness activities and improve tech literacy. (2) Research measures were sensitive enough to detect change, but the timing of assessments needs to be considered. (3) Participants greatly valued access to professional childcare. (4) The Community Champion is a necessary, but difficult role to fill that requires careful consideration by the Institutional Review Board (IRB).


2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Maschi ◽  
Carolyn Bradley

Recreational music-making has been shown to decrease stress and increase feelings of well-being and empowerment among diverse groups. This study examined the impact of recreational drumming among social work students on measures of well-being, empowerment, and connectedness. It used a pretest-posttest design to evaluate outcomes among a sample of 31 participants in the 2-hour I–We Rhythm Program for recreational drumming. Results of paired t-test analyses revealed significant differences in levels of stress, energy, and feelings of empowerment and community. Using this creative-arts intervention can be an effective self-care strategy for BSW and MSW students, practitioners, and/or clients in educational or agency-based settings to increase feelings of well-being and interpersonal connectedness, which, in turn, may help to increase effectiveness in practice.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen-Chang Chen ◽  
Yen-Yuan Chen

UNSTRUCTURED While health care and public health workers are working on measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an unprecedentedly large number of people spending much more time indoors, and relying heavily on the Internet as their lifeline. What has been overlooked is the influence of the increasing online activities on public health issues. In this article, we pointed out how a large-scale online activity called cyber manhunt may threaten to offset the efficacy of contact tracing investigation, a public health intervention considered highly effective in limiting further transmission in the early stage of a highly contagious disease outbreak such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first section, we presented a case to show how personal information obtained from contact investigation and disclosed in part on the media provoked a vehement cyber manhunt. We then discussed the possible reasons why netizens collaborate to reveal anonymized personal information about contact investigation, and specify, from the perspective of public health and public health ethics, four problems of cyber manhunt, including the lack of legitimate public health goals, the concerns about privacy breach, the impact of misinformation, and social inequality. Based on our analysis, we concluded that more moral weight may be given to protecting one's confidentiality, especially in an era with the rapid advance of digital and information technologies.


2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 144-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
WJ Bakker ◽  
RG Mathias

PROBLEM:Reports of mumps following measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) immunization.OBJECTIVE:To determine whether mumps was caused by immunization or whether there was a concurrent epidemic of a wild strain of mumps.DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS:Analysis of surveillance data and a cohort study of three schools that participated in the campaign.OUTCOME MEASURES:Cases of clinical mumps and orchitis, and immunization history and records were reviewed. The MMR vaccine was produced by the Serum Institute of India and contained the Leningrad-Zagreb strain of mumps virus. Four lots were used in the specific immunization campaign.RESULTS:Sentinel health facility surveillance showed an increase in mumps after two school immunization campaigns in western Suriname and a mass immunization campaign in the same region. There was also an increase in a geographically separate region following a mass campaign with the same vaccine. Three hundred fifteen children from three schools that were targeted in the immunization campaign were interviewed. The attack rate for mumps in those immunized was 15.1%; in those not immunized, the attack rate was 4.7%. In the affected males, the attack rate for orchitis was five of 19 (21%). Assuming 90% protection by the MMR vaccine, the incidence ratio (observed to expected) was 32.CONCLUSIONS:The mumps outbreak was caused by an inadequately attenuated MMR vaccine. Because this vaccine had not been used in these populations before in Suriname, it was not possible to determine wether the outbreak was due the virulence of the Leningrad-Zagreb mumps strain or due to production problems with one or more specific lots of vaccine. The vaccine was withdrawn from further use.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 174-179
Author(s):  
AMM Qurrota A'yun ◽  
Nyong Eka Teguh Imam Santosa

The results  of this  research indicate  that the Principal Strategies In The Development  Of Positioning at Junior High School of Muhammadiyah Boarding School (MBS) Jombang concentrating on Efforts such as the structured implementation of integrated curriculum, program execution, the flagship, Extracurricular activities that emphasizes education character, student achievement and promotional activities. The impact of the implementation strategy of development of the principal positioning at Junior High  School  Muhammadiyah  Boarding  School  (MBS)  Jombang  made  teachers  service  quality  and employees be good, increasing the interest and the trust of the community, the formation of good character in students, and the number of institutions study appeal. Implementation of the development strategy of positioning is supported by a number of factors, Including: educators who meet the qualification standards of the education quality, quality of education services are good, school is worth written, media promotion and quality students who are good. And has some restricting factors include: infrastructure, not to the existence of a special promotion team, intense competition, a community mindset growing niche to choose schools, and less strategic geographical location.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-32
Author(s):  
Michael J. Palm ◽  
Amanda N. Flanscha ◽  
Zachary K Winkelmann

The number of opioid overdoses (ODs) has risen in recent years and has become more complex due to the co-involvement of both prescription and illicit opioid drug use. Provisional programs for take-home naloxone (a medication designed to rapidly reverse opiate OD symptoms) kits have been distributed to combat this potentially fatal epidemic. Although there is strong evidence to support the efficacy of naloxone in the reversal of opiate OD, there is limited evidence to support the efficacy of take-home naloxone (THN) kits. The purpose of this evidence-to-practice review was to summarize a systematic review on the efficacy of THN programs. The authors aimed to include studies of THN programs that both trained opioid users in OD prevention and reported on OD outcomes. The Bradford Hill criteria (strength of association, temporality, consistency, specificity, dose-response relationship, biological plausibility, coherence, experimental evidence, and analogy) and five additional criteria (measure cost-effectiveness, absence of negative consequences, feasibility of implementation/expansion/ coverage, unanticipated benefits, and special populations) was used as dependent variables to determine the impact of public health intervention where randomized control trials (RCTs) are not ethically feasible or operationally practical. All 22 studies included provided empirical support using the Bradford Hill Criteria for community based THN programs. Despite being unable to deduce whether death would have occurred without the administration of THN, the studies combined accounted for an estimated 2316 successful opioid OD reversals. Thus, there is a strong association between THN administration and overdose survival. Additionally, there was a low rate of adverse events: withdrawal symptoms (2.8%), vomiting (2.2%), agitation (2.1%), seizures (0.1%). Consequently, we recommend that athletic trainers include opioid crisis management equipment and procedures in a site-specific policies manual. Clinical relevance is highly dependent on patient population and geographic location, considering 90% of reversed ODs were heroin induced. Application to individuals in organized sport is minimal, but nonetheless, individuals who are prescribed opioids for pain management should be candidates for THN programs. Athletic trainers and guardians of minors prescribed opioid medications should be educated on dispensing medication, best practices for opioid crisis management, and distribution of naloxone/THN.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanaz Hafezian Razavi

Most distributed systems that we use in our daily lives have layered architecture since such architectures allow separation of processing between multiple processes in different layers thereby reducing the complexity of the system. Unauthorized control over such systems can have potentially serious consequences ranging from huge monetary loss to even loss of human life. Hence considerable research attention is being given towards building tools and techniques for quantitative modeling and evaluation of security properties. This thesis proposes a high-level stochastic model to estimate security of a layered system. It discusses evaluation of availability and integrity as two major security properties of a three-layered architecture consisting of Client, Web-server and Database. Using Mobius software, this study models the change in vulnerability of a layer owing to an intrusion in another layer. Furthermore, it analyzes the impact on the security of the upper layers due to an intruded lower layer. While maintaining a system availability of 97.73%, this study indicates that increasing the system host attack rate in the Database layer from 10 to 20 will reduce system availability to 97.55%. Similar modification made to a Web-server layer will contribute to 97.04% availability. This set of results imply that increasing attack rate in Web Server layer has a more severe impact on system availability, while the same modification in Database layer will less severely influence system availability. Similar results have been gathered when measuring integrity of the system under identical set of modification. At system integrity of 96.88%, increasing host attack rate in Database layer has resulted in achieving integrity of 96.68%, similar experiment for Web server layer resulted in system integrity of 96.57%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-118
Author(s):  
Refinel Refinel ◽  
Emriadi Emriadi ◽  
Safni Safni ◽  
Mai Efdi ◽  
Syukri Syukri ◽  
...  

The Islamic Boarding School and Orphanage Al-Falah Padang are located on Bypass Km 16, behind the West Sumatra TVRI office. Al-Falah Boarding School has 367 students, 265 of them are foster children in the Orphanage. Inadequate construction and classrooms, the students and foster children of the Islamic Boarding School and the Al-Falah Orphanage studied and lived their daily lives. The occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic certainly affected the daily activities and learning activities of the orphanage children. Especially, the fulfillment of their basic needs. Moreover, the main problem of Covid-19 is not only about the effects by the virus on sufferers but also about its rapid transmission. Therefore, to help the crisis due to Covid-19, several lecturers and students from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Universitas Andalas (Unand) provided staple foods, money, masks, hand sanitizers, and disinfectants for residents of the Al-Falah Padang orphanage. It is hoped that can help the residents of the Al-Falah orphanage who certainly feel the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.


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