Epidemiology Commons^™

Recommended Reporting Items For Epidemic Forecasting And Prediction Research: The Epiforge 2020 Guidelines, Simon Pollett, Michael A. Johansson, Nicholas G. Reich, David Brett-Major, Sara Y. Del Valle, Srinivasan Venkatramanan, Rachel Lowe, Travis Porco, Irina Maljkovic Berry, Alina Deshpande, Moritz U. G. Kraemer, David L. Blazes, Wirichada Pan-Ngum, Alessandro Vespigiani, Suzanne E. Mate, Sheetal P. Silal, Sasikiran Kandula, Rachel Sippy, Talia M. Quandelacy, Jeffrey J. Morgan, Jacob Ball, Lindsay C. Morton, Benjamin M. Althouse, Julie Pavlin, Wilbert Van Panhuis, Steven Riley, Matthew Biggerstaff, Cecile Viboud, Oliver Brady, Caitlin Rivers

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

BACKGROUND: The importance of infectious disease epidemic forecasting and prediction research is underscored by decades of communicable disease outbreaks, including COVID-19. Unlike other fields of medical research, such as clinical trials and systematic reviews, no reporting guidelines exist for reporting epidemic forecasting and prediction research despite their utility. We therefore developed the EPIFORGE checklist, a guideline for standardized reporting of epidemic forecasting research.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: We developed this checklist using a best-practice process for development of reporting guidelines, involving a Delphi process and broad consultation with an international panel of infectious disease modelers and model end users. The objectives …

Long-Term Assessment Of The Effects Of Covid-19 And Isolation Care On Survivor Disability And Anxiety, David Brett-Major, David S. Cates, James V. Lawler, Chad Vokoun, Angela L. Hewlett, Daniel W. Johnson, Elizabeth R. Schnaubelt, Michael C. Wadman, Christopher J. Kratochvil, M. Jana Broadhurst

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

We conducted an assessment of disability, anxiety, and other life impacts of COVID-19 and isolation care in a unique cohort of individuals. These included both community admissions to a university hospital as well as some of the earliest international aeromedical evacuees. Among an initial 16 COVID-19 survivors that were interviewed 6-12 months following their admission into isolation care, perception of their isolation care experience was related to their reporting of long-term consequences. However, anxiety and disability assessed with standard scores had no relationship with each other. Both capture of the isolation care experience and caution relying on single scoring systems …

Assessment Of A Program For Sars-Cov-2 Screening And Environmental Monitoring In An Urban Public School District, John Crowe, Andy T. Schnaubelt, Scott Schmidtbonne, Kathleen Angell, Julia Bai, Teresa Eske, Molly Nicklin, Catherine Pratt, Bailey White, Brodie Crotts-Hannibal, Nicholas Staffend, Vicki L. Herrera, Jeramie Cobb, Jennifer Conner, Julie Carstens, Jonell Tempero, Lori Bouda, Matthew Ray, James V. Lawler, Walter S. Campbell, John-Martin Lowe, Joshua L. Santarpia, Shannon Bartelt-Hunt, Michael R. Wiley, David Brett-Major, Cheryl Logan, M. Jana Broadhurst

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

Importance: Scalable programs for school-based SARS-CoV-2 testing and surveillance are needed to guide in-person learning practices and inform risk assessments in kindergarten through 12th grade settings.

Objectives: To characterize SARS-CoV-2 infections in staff and students in an urban public school setting and evaluate test-based strategies to support ongoing risk assessment and mitigation for kindergarten through 12th grade in-person learning.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This pilot quality improvement program engaged 3 schools in Omaha, Nebraska, for weekly saliva polymerase chain reaction testing of staff and students participating in in-person learning over a 5-week period from November 9 to December 11, 2020. …

The Future Of Zoonotic Risk Prediction, Colin J. Carlson, Maxwell J. Farrell, Zoe Grange, Barbara A. Han, Nardus Mollentze, Alexandra L. Phelan, Angela L. Rasmussen, Gregory F. Albery, Bernard Bett, David Brett-Major, Lily E. Cohen, Tad Dallas, Evan A. Eskew, Anna C. Fagre, Kristian M. Forbes, Rory Gibb, Sam Halabi, Charlotte C. Hammer, Rebecca Katz, Jason Kindrachuk, Renata L. Muylaert, Felicia B. Nutter, Joseph Ogola, Kevin J. Olival, Michelle Rourke, Sadie J. Ryan, Noam Ross, Stephanie N. Seifert, Tarja Sironen, Claire J. Standley, Kishana Taylor, Marietjie Venter, Paul W. Webala

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

In the light of the urgency raised by the COVID-19 pandemic, global investment in wildlife virology is likely to increase, and new surveillance programmes will identify hundreds of novel viruses that might someday pose a threat to humans. To support the extensive task of laboratory characterization, scientists may increasingly rely on data-driven rubrics or machine learning models that learn from known zoonoses to identify which animal pathogens could someday pose a threat to global health. We synthesize the findings of an interdisciplinary workshop on zoonotic risk technologies to answer the following questions. What are the prerequisites, in terms of open …

Multiplex Qpcr Discriminates Variants Of Concern To Enhance Global Surveillance Of Sars-Cov-2, Chantal B. F. Vogels, Mallery I. Breban, Isabel M. Ott, Tara Alpert, Mary E. Petrone, Anne E. Watkins, Chaney C. Kalinich, Rebecca Earnest, Jessica E. Rothman, Jaqueline Goes De Jesus, Ingra Morales Claro, Giulia Magalhães Ferreira, Myuki A. E. Crispim, Brazil-Uk Cadde Genomic Network, Lavanya Singh, Houriiyah Tegally, Ugochukwu J. Anyaneji, Network For Genomic Surveillance In South Africa, Emma B. Hodcroft, Christopher E. Mason, Gaurav Khullar, Jessica Metti, Joel T. Dudley, Matthew J. Mackay, Megan Nash, Jianhui Wang, Chen Liu, Pei Hui, Steven Murphy, Caleb Neal, Eva Laszlo, Marie L. Landry, Anthony Muyombwe, Randy Downing, Jafar Razeq, Tulio De Oliveira, Nuno R. Faria, Ester C. Sabino, Richard A. Neher, Joseph R. Fauver, Nathan D. Grubaugh

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

With the emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants that may increase transmissibility and/or cause escape from immune responses, there is an urgent need for the targeted surveillance of circulating lineages. It was found that the B.1.1.7 (also 501Y.V1) variant, first detected in the United Kingdom, could be serendipitously detected by the Thermo Fisher TaqPath COVID-19 PCR assay because a key deletion in these viruses, spike Δ69-70, would cause a "spike gene target failure" (SGTF) result. However, a SGTF result is not definitive for B.1.1.7, and this assay cannot detect other variants of concern (VOC) that lack …

Isolation And Characterization Of A Novel Bacteriophage Wo From Allonemobius Socius Crickets In Missouri, Jonah Kupritz, John Martin, Kerstin Fischer, Kurt C. Curtis, Joseph R. Fauver, Yuefang Huang, Young-Jun Choi, Wandy L. Beatty, Makedonka Mitreva, Peter U. Fischer

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

Wolbachia are endosymbionts of numerous arthropod and some nematode species, are important for their development and if present can cause distinct phenotypes of their hosts. Prophage DNA has been frequently detected in Wolbachia, but particles of Wolbachia bacteriophages (phage WO) have been only occasionally isolated. Here, we report the characterization and isolation of a phage WO of the southern ground cricket, Allonemobius socius, and provided the first whole-genome sequence of phage WO from this arthropod family outside of Asia. We screened A. socius abdomen DNA extracts from a cricket population in eastern Missouri by quantitative PCR for Wolbachia surface protein …

Zika Virus Concern And Preventative Behaviors During Pregnancy: Analysis Of 2017 Georgia Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System Data, Priya R. Nair, Christine E. Stauber

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Background: Zika virus infection can cause severe health complications in pregnant women such as microcephaly and other congenital anomalies in the developing fetus but it can be prevented. It is imperative to develop an understanding of concern about Zika virus among pregnant women as this can influence their Zika virus preventative behaviors.

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of Zika virus concern among women in Georgia with live births in 2017 and to examine the frequency of condom use among those who were sexually active during their most recent pregnancy.

Methods: This cross- sectional study used …

The Risks For Eating Disorders/Disordered Eating In Refugee & Immigrant Experiences And The Imperative Of Culturally Alert Screening, Chantal A. Bushelle

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Eating Disorders (ED)/Disordered Eating (DE) largely remain outside of global mental health agendas. There are limited data on the epidemiology EDs/DE in refugee and immigrant populations, and there is a paucity of research on refugee and immigrant experiences of EDs/DE. Study of acculturation issues in refugee and immigrant populations have historically missed investigating what role and impact experiences of stress and trauma (e.g., historical, chronic) along with cultural change and transition may have on their food attitudes and eating behaviors. While there has been some study of eating habits within refugee and immigrant populations, the focus is typically on food …

Epigenetic Mechanisms Underlying Hiv-Infection Induced Susceptibility Of Cd4+ T Cells To Enhanced Activation-Induced Fasl Expression And Cell Death., Smita Ghare, Paula M. Chilton, Aakarsha V. Rao, Swati Joshi-Barve, Paula Peyrani, Andrea Reyes-Vega, Craig J. Mcclain, Kendall Bryant, Robert L. Cook, Mathew Freiberg, Shirish Barve

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Background:

Chronic immune activation and CD4⁺ T cell depletion are significant pathogenic features of HIV infection. Expression of Fas ligand (FasL), a key mediator of activation-induced cell death in T cells, is elevated in people living with HIV-1 infection (PLWH). However, the epigenetic mechanisms underlying the enhanced induction of FasL expression in CD4⁺ T lymphocytes in PLWH are not completely elucidated. Hence, the current work examined the effect of HIV infection on FasL promoter-associated histone modifications and transcriptional regulation in CD4⁺ T lymphocytes in PLWH.

Method:

Flow cytometric analysis was performed to examine the Fas-FasL expression on …

Development And Validation Of A Psychometric Scale To Assess Attitude Towards Safe Abortions In Pakistan, Xaher Gul, Junaid-Ur-Rehman Siddiqui, Miraal Mavalvala, Waqas Hameed, Muhammad Ishaque

Community Health Sciences

Despite severe health and economic consequences that women face because of the negative attitude of healthcare providers towards safe abortion and post-abortion care (SA/PAC), no psychometric tool has yet been validated for assessing the attitude towards SA/PAC. Only a handful of studies have attempted to assess healthcare providers' attitude towards safe abortions in Pakistan. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and validate a psychometric scale to assess attitude towards safe abortions in Pakistan. The study collected data from 106 workers of an NGO that provides SA/PAC through an online and anonymous survey using the organisation's network. The study used factor …

Association Between Life Course Social Determinants Of Health And Metabolic Syndrome Among Female Secondary School Teachers In Johor, Mohammad Fadzly Marzuki

Student Works (2020-2029)

Metabolic syndrome, a cluster of multiple risk factors, is known to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and certain cancers. Poor health behaviours such as poor dietary intake and physical activities are known risk factors of metabolic syndrome. However, very little is known if the social determinants of health throughout the life�course are associated with metabolic syndrome. The study aimed to explore the association between life-course social determinants of health and metabolic syndrome. The cross-sectional study involved female secondary school teachers living in the state of Johor, Malaysia. The study used available data from the Clustering of Lifestyle risk …

The Relationship Of Obesity With Falls Among Older Adults, Kioh Sheng Hui

Student Works (2020-2029)

Both falls and obesity are major public health issues in older adults and have been identified as the fifth leading cause of death among older adults. The relationship between obesity and falls have been conflicting in the limited publications available. This doctoral research comprised: 1) a cross-sectional study on obesity and falls, 2) a prospective study on obesity and falls and 3) an intercontinental comparison of relationship between obesity and falls. The study populations consisted of adults aged ≥55years from the Malaysian Elders Longitudinal Study (MELoR), the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer - Norfolk study (EPIC- NORFOLK) and Bavarian Research …

Understanding The Psychological Experience And Perspective Of Frontline Healthcare Workers And Psychological First Aid Providers During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study, Hemavathi Shanmugam

Student Works (2020-2029)

Background: The growing number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases since December 2019 has led to burnout and psychological distress among the frontline healthcare workers (HCWs). In Malaysia, remote Psychological First Aid (PFA) via teleconsultation was launched to ameliorate the mental health distress among HCWs. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to understand the psychological experience and perspective of frontline HCWs and PFA providers as a guide in improvising the delivery of the remote PFA service during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: A descriptive qualitative research design based on semi-structured individual in-depth interviews were conducted with a total of 30 …

Covid-19 Governance, Legitimacy, And Sustainability: Lessons From The Australian Experience, Michael Lester, Marie Dela Rama, Julie Crews

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

During 2020, Australia managed the global and systemic COVID-19 crisis successfully as measured by health and economic indicators. It marshalled the government’s delivery capacity to control the health crisis and put in place measures to offset the induced economic and social costs. At the same time, the crisis revealed long-standing structural weaknesses in a small, democratic, wealthy, and economically successful country that raised questions about post COVID resilience and sustainability. This paper examines that experience by applying a “co-production” governance model that sees success in “crisis management” as the striking of a balance between government capacity and its legitimacy in …

An Outbreak Of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H7n7) In Australia And The Potential For Novel Influenza A Viruses To Emerge, Andrew T. Bisset, Gerard F. Hoyne

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In 2020, several geographically isolated farms in Victoria, Australia, experienced an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus H7N7 and low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) viruses H5N2 and H7N6. Effective containment and control measures ensured the eradication of these viruses but the event culminated in substantial loss of livestock and significant economic impact. The avian HPAI H7N7 virus generally does not infect humans; however, evidence shows the ocular pathway presents a favourable tissue tropism for human infection. Through antigenic drift, mutations in the H7N7 viral genome may increase virulence and pathogenicity in humans. The Victorian outbreak also detected LPAI …

Organizational Factors Associated With Health Worker Protection During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Four Provinces Of South Africa, Muzimkhulu Zungu, Kuku Voyi, Nosimilo Mlangeni, Saiendhra Vasudevan Moodley, Jonathan Ramodike, Nico Claassen, Elizabeth Wilcox, Nkululeko Thunzi, Annalee Yassi, Jerry Spiegel, Molebogeng Malotle

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Health workers, in short supply in many low-and-middle-income countries, are at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study aimed to assess how South Africa, prepared to protect its health workers from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study design applying participatory action research in four provinces of South Africa. A semi-structured questionnaire and a qualitative observational HealthWISE walkthrough risk assessment was carried out to collect data on occupational safety and health (OSH) systems in 45 hospitals across four provinces to identify factors associated with health worker protection. Adapting the International Labour Organization (ILO) and World Health Organization (WHO) …

Decomposing Differences In Coronavirus Disease 2019-Related Case-Fatality Rates Across Seventeen Nations, Ashley Wendell Kranjac, Dinko Kranjac

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

As of 1 November 2020, estimated case-fatality rates associated with coronavirus disease 2019 are not uniformly patterned across the world and differ substantially in magnitude. Given the global spatial heterogeneity in case-fatality rates, we applied the Blinder-Oaxaca regression decomposition technique to identify how putative sociodemographic, structural, and environmental sources influence variation in case-fatality rates. We show that compositional and associational differences in country-level risk factors explain a substantial proportion of the coronavirus disease 2019-related case-fatality rate gap across nations. Asian countries fair better vis-à-vis case-fatality rate differences mainly due to variation in returns to sociodemographic, structural, and environmental sources among …

The Relationship Between Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus With Chronic Kidney Disease In Indonesian Population In 2014-2015 (Data Analysis Of Ifls 5), Tri Damayanti Simanjuntak, Tri Yunis Miko Wahyono

Jurnal Epidemiologi Kesehatan Indonesia

The Global Burden of Disease research in 2010 reveal that cases of chronic kidney disease increase and became a serious health problem. Indonesia Basic Health Research data in 2013 reveal that the proportion of patients with chronic kidney failure aged > 15 years old based on doctor’s diagnosis was 0,2% and 0,6% kidney stones. The study aimed to analyze the relationship be tween type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease in the population of Indonesia in 2014-2015. This design of research used cross-sectional and secondary data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) 5. The minimum sample size in this …

Faktor-Faktor Yang Berhubungan Dengan Waktu Kembalinya Menstruasi Pertama Pasca Persalinan Di Wilayah Rural, Indonesia, Nia Reni Adha, Krisnawati Bantas

Jurnal Epidemiologi Kesehatan Indonesia

Durasi kembalinya menstruasi pertama di Indonesia dinilai masih sangat cepat. Hal ini berdampak pada peningkatan kehamilan yang tidak direncanakan dan pendeknya jarak lahir. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui faktor-faktor yang berhubungan dengan waktu kembalinya menstruasi pertama pasca persalinan di wilayah rural Indonesia. Penelitian ini menggunakan data Survei Demografi Kesehatan Indonesia (SDKI) tahun 2017 dengan responden sebanyak 1701 ibu berusia 15-49 tahun, yang melahirkan anak terakhir dalam waktu 1 tahun sebelum survei. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain studi kohort retrospektif dengan analisis survival/ kesintasan, Cox Regression. Dari penelitian ini didapatkan waktu kembali menstruasi pertama pasca persalinan di Indonesia hingga 12 bulan pengamatan …

Hubungan Riwayat Komplikasi Saat Hamil Dengan Kejadian Berat Badan Lahir Rendah (Bblr) Di Indonesia, Pebrina Manurung, Helda Helda

Jurnal Epidemiologi Kesehatan Indonesia

Bayi dengan Berat Badan Lahir Rendah (BBLR) berisiko mengalami banyak masalah kesehatan seperti jatuh sakit dalam enam hari pertama kehidupannya atau mengalami infeksi, serta dapat juga menderita masalah jangka panjang seperti perkembangan motorik dan sosial yang tertunda atau ketidakmampuan belajar. WHO memperkirakan BBLR sekitar 15% hingga 20% dari jumlah yang lahir, mewakili tiap tahunnya ada sekitar 20 juta kelahiran. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan riwayat komplikasi saat hamil dengan kejadian BBLR. Desain yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yaitu study cross sectional dengan menganalisis data IFLS tahun 2014. Sebanyak 372 responden diikutkan dalam studi ini. Analisis chi square test untuk …