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PubMedDate not supplied

[Sanitary control of communicable diseases in Hispanic America in the XVI, XVII, and XVIII centuries].

In each time and each place, man has avoided diseases, has tried to limit diffusion of diseases. The purpose of this article was to present in a general manure the measures taken in Hispano America during colonial times to control communicable diseases. The main problems of health during the XVI, XVII, and XVIII centuries, in Hispano American region were communicable diseases. Practices to avoid them derived from observation, control measures referred to stay away from the contagious places, and to isolate sick persons by means of quarantine, and implied some epidemiologic surveillance. The supply of safe drinking water, sewage disposal systems and sanitary control of food were not habitual practices; garbage, residuals, and waste collection were not opportune, This favored the existence of vectors-insects and animals. Domestic waste did not go away in a timely fashion, it allowed to accumulate excreta and waste near houses. In some places, the were measures related to water supply, excreta disposal, handling of dead bodies, and environmental sanitation. It was believed that with prayers and processions, prevalent diseases could be avoided. Demographic information, data on mortality, births, and morbidity, were irregular and incompletes, some data were compiled in parishes: physicians should inform and notify the governmental medical board, which regulated medicine and public heath who the cared for an action carried out only as and exception. Compiled data had no clear medical or sanitary use.

Communicable Diseases↗
PubMed2001

[The worldwide challenges of "new" or reemerging communicable diseases at the dawn of the 21st century].

In spite of the very significant advances made during the 20 th century in the prevention and the treatment of communicable diseases, infections are still today, even in developed countries, a major cause of morbidity and mortality. New infectious diseases have emerged (AIDS, legionellosis, exterotoxigenic E. coli, Ebola fever), others have significantly reemerged (tuberculosis, diphtheria, Bartonella infections) or have seen their geographic distribution widen considerably (dengue, Hantavirus, West Nile Virus, Lyme disease). New and widespread hepatotropic viruses (mainly hepatitis C) have been identified, while the bacterial cause (Helicobacter pylori) of gastric ulcer was demonstrated. The second part of this review will deal with other examples of emerging or reemerging infections and with the problem of the increasing resistance of pathogens to antimicrobial agents. It will analyse the multiple causes of these various phenomena and describe the diverse strategies which should become available for the prevention and/or treatment of these numerous infectious diseases.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Communicable-disease surveillance in New Jersey.

The DHSS and federal agencies have expanded their surveillance efforts to improve existing methods of reporting notifiable communicable diseases and to include additional data sources that might provide a more comprehensive view of disease activity in New Jersey. Currently, the DHSS is evaluating these efforts and recognizes several issues that need to be addressed, including: assessment of the timeliness, completeness, and accuracy of surveillance data; validation of surveillance data through comparison with hospital uniform billing data; characterization of the sensitivity of alerts through examination of reasons for identified aberrations in disease activity; evaluation of DHSS staffs and LINCS epidemiologists' follow-up efforts in response to alerts; evaluation of cumulative data trends to determine patterns in baseline disease activity (e.g., variations in disease activity attributed to seasonality); development of methods to integrate data from all surveillance efforts to provide timely, comprehensive, and coordinated summaries of disease activity and to distribute these summaries regularly to all New Jersey public health partners to better inform public health and clinical management; and development of a coordinated multi-agency response plan in conjunction with adjacent states. Though the DHSS hopes that these surveillance efforts will contribute to the early detection of sentinel events that might represent possible bioterrorist or emerging infectious disease threats, the DHSS will also need to engage the medical community more fully in surveillance activities. In previous experiences, astute clinicians were responsible for the identification of the first cases of West Nile virus, anthrax, and SARS. Therefore, to further ensure the success of its surveillance efforts, the DHSS will also need to continue educating clinicians about its surveillance activities and the importance of timely reporting of patients with illness patterns that might suggest an unusual infectious disease outbreak associated with bioterrorism or emerging infectious diseases.

Communicable Disease Control↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A survey of emergency department communicable disease reporting practices.

A group of physicians, nurses, and administrators at all 11 hospitals in the District of Columbia were interviewed to elucidate each hospital emergency department's (ED) system for patient and public health notification of the diagnosis of legally reportable communicable diseases. The hospitals' reporting systems were divided into two groups. Three hospitals (27%) had reporting systems that were centered in the emergency department (EDS). Eight hospitals (73%) had disease reporting systems that depended primarily on extradepartmental personnel (HBS) for disease reporting. The EDS outperformed the HBS in several key areas of system performance. Greater attention needs to be paid by ED directors to assuring that their hospital's system is as accurate as possible and fulfills their jurisdiction's legal requirements for communicable disease reporting.

Communicable Diseases↗
PubMed1980

On the use of simple analytic mathematical models of communicable diseases.

Complex simulation models of diseases are becoming widely used by researchers and planners. This paper shows how simple analytic models can explain some otherwise inexplicable aspects of the behaviour of both these complex models and of the diseases in the real world. A system for grouping communicable diseases on the basis of the mathematical representation of the disease aetiology is developed.

Communicable Diseases↗
PubMed1996

The costs and effectiveness of surveillance of communicable disease: a case study of HIV and AIDS in England and Wales.

BACKGROUND: In England and Wales, surveillance of communicable disease is carried out and co-ordinated by the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS). The surveillance of HIV infection and AIDS is undertaken by the PHLS AIDS Centre at the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (CDSC). Epidemiological data derived from surveillance are not, however, a free good: they are a resource with an associated opportunity cost and should therefore be open to economic appraisal alongside other users of health care resources such as medical interventions. This paper assembles information on the current surveillance of HIV and AIDS in England and Wales, and explores methods for performing an economic evaluation of such activities. METHODS: An examination of the cost and effectiveness of the PHLS AIDS Centre's epidemiological surveillance mechanisms for HIV and AIDS in England and Wales was undertaken. The total costs of each component of surveillance of HIV and AIDS in England and Wales were calculated. Two categories of cost were estimated: peripheral costs incurred by reporters in reporting AIDS cases or HIV infections or by laboratories in collecting samples; and central costs incurred by the PHLS AIDS Centre in processing and analysing incoming data. Using these cost data and information from a cost-effectiveness register, the additional health gains that would have to be obtained from surveillance to make the programme broadly cost-effective in comparison with other accepted uses of health service resources were then estimated. RESULTS: In the financial year 1993-1994 the total costs of surveillance were estimated to be 1.4 million pounds. To avoid being considered relatively cost-ineffective at least 3.5 infections per annum need to be averted. To be considered favourably cost-effective, approximately 9.5 infections per annum need to be averted. CONCLUSIONS: In 1993-1994, expenditure on surveillance of HIV and AIDS accounted for less than 1 per cent of the total allocation of resources to the National Health Service for all HIV and AIDS activities. Given these cost estimates, the number of infections which surveillance would have to contribute towards preventing in order to be considered cost-effective is low.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1999

Communicable disease in African immigrants in Minneapolis.

BACKGROUND: Despite increasing numbers of African immigrants to the United States, there is a lack of detailed information about their health problems. METHODS: Data on communicable diseases were obtained from the charts of all 102 patients who had emigrated from Africa in the last 5 years and were seen at an urban clinic in Minneapolis, Minn, during the last 7 months of 1997. RESULTS: Eight patients had active tuberculosis, 10 had hepatitis B, 7 trichuriasis, 2 amebiasis, 1 schistosomiasis, 1 ascariasis, 2 human immunodeficiency virus infection, and 1 malaria. All patients tested had antibodies to hepatitis A, 55% to hepatitis B, and 3% to hepatitis C. Characteristics of these patients are described. CONCLUSIONS: Communicable diseases are common in African immigrants, often despite a healthy appearance and prolonged residence in the United States. Careful screening is warranted.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Control of communicable diseases. Interim final rule with comment period.

The Public Health Service Act authorizes the Secretary, in consultation with the Surgeon General, to make and enforce regulations as are necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the States or possessions, or from one State or possession into any other State or possession. The existing regulations are outdated and do not address communicable diseases that currently pose a substantial public health threat. As of April 2, 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported 2236 cases and 78 deaths related to outbreaks of a severe form of pneumonia of unknown origin in Hong Kong SAR, Vietnam, Guangdong province in southern China, Canada, Singapore, and Thailand, which appears to have spread rapidly. For this reason, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a global alert about cases of atypical pneumonia and recommended that travelers with atypical pneumonia who may be related to these outbreaks be placed into isolation and assessed by quarantine officials. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is currently investigating 85 suspected cases of the disease in the United States. This is being issued as an interim final rule because this newly-detected disease is likely spread in person-to-person fashion and may have an adverse public health impact if further introduced into the United States.

Communicable Disease Control↗
PubMed1988

Trends in mortality from major non-communicable diseases in the middle-aged population of Malta.

Trends in life expectancy and mortality from major non-communicable diseases in Malta were analyzed from the national vital statistics available. Most of the increased life expectancy during the 20th century in Malta took place between 1930 and 1960 and since then only a minor increase was observed. The peak in age standardized total mortality in men and women aged 40-69 years was during 1974-76. Total mortality in men was about 40% higher than that of women. The proportion of deaths from major non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes) of all deaths increased during 1968-82. In 1983-84 in the age group 45-64 cardiovascular diseases accounted for 54% of deaths in men and 43% in women, cancer 27% and 34%, and diabetes 3% and 11% in men and women, respectively. The international comparison of mortality data showed that mortality from both cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes was clearly higher than in other European Mediterranean countries ranking among the highest in the whole Europe. Public health intervention programmes have initiated in Malta to reduce these high death rates in the future.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed1996

Learning to design new systems: communicable disease surveillance.

The basis for public health actions and its supporting information systems are being questioned. Problems with the New Jersey communicable disease surveillance system were examined. Inability to discriminate unusual disease patterns was disclosed. In addition, there was prolonged processing time, high costs, and lack of capability to identify emerging infections. A new approach for communicable disease surveillance using a hospital laboratory isolate-based reports is described. The project could have been completed faster and with less expense if the project could have benefited from other recent management experience dealing with similar problems.

Disease Notification↗