PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

F Assaad

Publications and source records attributed to F Assaad.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1985

WHO's vaccine development programme.

The World Health Organization is playing a major international role in encouraging, coordinating, and where appropriate commissioning, research and development activities relevant to the control of high priority infectious diseases. The Expanded Programme on Immunization would be the vehicle for the introduction of new or improved vaccines. In many parts of the developing world the health infrastructure is strained to breaking point by the heavy load of disease. It has failed to make the best use of the already available technology. Immunization provides the simplest, least expensive and most effective intervention technology. Every effort is therefore needed to extend immunization coverage and lighten the burden on the health infrastructure and accelerate the overall development of the vast rural and peri-urban communities in the developing world. WHO has, on the one hand, to call on the most eminent scientists to give effective and simple interventions, and on the other, on the politicians, social leaders, economic managers, medical profession and all public health workers to build up the infrastructure to put intervention technologies into action.

Communicable Disease Control↗
PubMed1979

Poliomyelitis vaccination benefits--versus risk.

Paralytic poliomyelitis is a constantly rising problem in the developing world. It may take an insiduous endemic "infantile paralysis" behaviour exacting a high toll in the first few years of life, as in Ghana or Burma but on the other hand it may take the form of sudden extensive outbreaks of paralytic disease as in Argentina, Mexico or Malaysia. The developed world has controlled the disease by effectively immunizing a very high proportion of their populations, but those who have not been vaccinated are at risk even in countries with very high coverage, as has been noted in the Netherlands, Sweden, United States of America, etc. There is no reason to have a crippled paralytic child (or adult). Both the live and killed vaccines have been repeatedly shown to be safe and effective. The minute risk incidental to vaccination is more than one hundredfold smaller than the risk from the disease, not only in the developing world but in the developed world as well. Therefore, the question of which vaccine to use is of far less relevance than of how to increase effective coverage with any available vaccine. This does not mean that vaccine control should be relaxed. A health respect should be maintained for the polioviruses used as vaccine sources and great care must be exercised by those undertaking the manufacture or the administration of vaccine.

Child↗
PubMed1978

[International influenza surveillance (author's transl)].

Influenza may be considered a convenient model to set up a methodology for surveillance in a country, which can further be extended to other diseases. The solidarity which exists among Directors of National Influenza Centres is one of the reasons for its success. On positive result, and one which is not negligible, has been the stimulating effect which influenza surveillance had on the development of virus laboratories in tropical regions.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.↗
PubMed1978

[International surveillance of some viral diseases (author's transl)].

During a period of more than fifteen years the WHO international surveillance system for selected viral diseases has been modified on several occasions. The aims of the surveillance programme on viral diseases are two-fold: to make available world-wide epidemiological information and to contribute to the development of public health laboratories in countries where this is necessary.

Electronic Data Processing↗
PubMed1977

Nine-year study of WHO virus reports on fatal viral infections.

In 1963, the World Health Organization established a system for the collection and distribution of information on viruses. The present study is based on 2737 reports of fatal viral infections received from laboratories in 39 out of a total of 47 countries participating in the scheme. In the industrially developed countries, from which most of the reports came, more than one-third of the total number of deaths were associated with influenza A virus, while in the developing countries, the enteroviruses, and in particular poliovirus, came high on the list.In general, a steady increase in the number of reports received by WHO has been noted, especially during the last three years. The greatest variations in the yearly number of reports were seen in those concerning influenza A virus, and coincided with the clinical and epidemiological patterns observed since the advent of the A/Hong Kong/68 strain.In children, death was most frequently associated with enteroviruses, and in adults, with influenza A virus. However, some of the viruses, and in particular herpesvirus, were reported in both children and adults.Overall, respiratory diseases were the most frequent cause of death, mainly because of influenza A virus infection; next most frequent were herpesvirus infections, especially of the central nervous system, and particularly among young adults. The findings in this study confirm that it is the most serious central nervous system viral infection in the developed world.In contrast to the above, the enteroviruses are still the most important killers in the developing world and the cases occur among infants and young children. Poliovirus, in particular type 1, is still the most prevalent.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1974

A seven-year study of WHO virus laboratory reports on respiratory viruses.

In 1963 the World Health Organization established a system for the collection and distribution of information on viruses. By 1973 laboratories in 45 countries were participating in this scheme. The present study is an analysis of the reports on adenovirus, influenza viruses A, B, and C, parainfluenza virus, respiratory syncytial (RS) virus, rhinovirus, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae during 1967-73. In the northern hemisphere, from which over 95% of the reports were received, a clear pattern of the seasonal incidence of different respiratory tract infections emerged. Over 70% of the total number of reported adenovirus infections, over 80% of the parainfluenza virus infections, and over 90% of the RS virus infections were in children. M. pneumoniae infections were most frequently reported in adults. Influenza A virus infection was predominant in the adult population, with a high proportion in those aged 60 years and over. Influenza B infections were reported equally in adults and children, but over one third were in children of school age. The proportion of lower respiratory infections to total respiratory infections varied from one virus to another, and ranged from less than half for adenovirus to over four fifths for mycoplasma infections. Nonlocalizing fever was usually the second principal clinical condition reported in association with respiratory viruses.

Adenoviridae Infections↗
PubMed1973

Some observations on the communicable diseases as public health problems.

Notwithstanding the deficiencies in reporting, an attempt is made in the present study to provide some useful information on the importance of the communicable diseases in the world over the decade 1957-58 to 1967-68. In this period health authorities in the developing countries almost invariably reported communicable diseases as their main public health problems, whereas, in the developed countries, the only communicable diseases still considered as public health problems were tuberculosis, venereal diseases, and hepatitis. In the developing countries nearly half of the principal causes of death were communicable diseases, and in both the developing and developed countries respiratory infections ranked high on the list. Deaths from tuberculosis have come down markedly in the developed countries and to a lesser degree in the developing countries. Infectious diseases of childhood are no longer a problem in the developed countries but are still important in the developing countries. The communicable diseases of importance to the developing countries may be divided into two groups-those requiring long-term development for their solution (e.g., dysentery, typhoid fever, parasitic diseases, and respiratory infections) and those that would respond rapidly to control by such methods as immunization.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1973

Use of excess mortality from respiratory diseases in the study of influenza.

Since 1970, WHO has conducted a collaborative study on the use of "excess mortality" from respiratory diseases (that is, the number of deaths actually recorded in excess of the number expected on the basis of past seasonal experience) in order to assess in 13 different countries the severity of influenza epidemics. The use of computer-produced seasonal expected and actual curves permits quick visual assessment of influenza activity in any one country, as well as comparisons between different countries. The study demonstrates that an excess in the observed over the expected number of total deaths does not necessarily indicate an excess in deaths from influenza, and it is therefore limited, at least for the present time, to deaths from respiratory disease. It provides a week-to-week record of deaths from acute respiratory disease in countries where weekly returns are available and a retrospective analysis of the disease pattern in the collaborating countries. This study will be continued for a number of years and, apart from its value to the individual countries, should provide useful comparisons between countries with different climates.

Asia↗
PubMed1972

Four-year study of WHO virus reports on enteroviruses other than poliovirus.

In 1963 the World Health Organization established a system for collecting and distributing information on viruses. By 1970, 93 laboratories in 33 countries were participating. The present study is an analysis of the reports on coxsackieviruses A and B and echoviruses for the 4 years 1967-70. Among the coxsackieviruses A, type 9 was reported most frequently, and the most frequently reported coxsackievirus B was type 3. Among the echoviruses, types 9, 6, and 30 were common. In the northern hemisphere the season of highest incidence for each of the three groups was June-October; in the southern hemisphere it was November-February. Most of the infections were in children and the clinical manifestations usually included aseptic meningitis, respiratory disease, skin eruptions, undifferentiated febrile illnesses, and gastroenteritis. The relative frequency of an association of a virus with a clinical syndrome differed not only between the three groups of viruses under study, but in a number of instances between the types within a group. As is well known there were a number of instances in which a specific clinical syndrome was linked to certain specific viruses-e.g., hand, foot, and mouth disease to certain types of coxsackievirus A, and myalgia (Bornholm disease) and cardiac conditions to coxsackieviruses B. There was also an apparent relation between age and symptoms-e.g., those due to the coxsackievirus B associated with Bornholm disease in persons over 15 years of age.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

International cooperation in rabies research.

International cooperation in rabies research focuses on four areas of activity--surveillance, technical cooperation in the planning of national programs, coordination of the control programs of neighboring countries along their borders, and enforcement of national regulations. It is the goal of the World Health Organization to see that every member state has the opportunity to formulate plans for the elimination of rabies.

Humans↗