Journal of Infection and Public Health最新文献

{"title":"Retrospective assessment of vaccination policy optimizations during an Omicron BA.2 epidemic in Hong Kong: A modelling study","authors":"Benjamin R. Young ,&nbsp;Faith Ho ,&nbsp;Yun Lin ,&nbsp;Eric H.Y. Lau ,&nbsp;Peng Wu ,&nbsp;Benjamin J. Cowling ,&nbsp;Tim K. Tsang","doi":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102972","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102972","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Suboptimal COVID-19 vaccine distribution hampers their potential disease protection impact. The 2022 BA.2 epidemic in Hong Kong, occurring over a year into vaccination efforts, resulted in one of the highest daily mortality rates of the pandemic.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We developed an age- and dose-structured SEIR model to describe the transmission dynamics in this epidemic. Then we fitted the model to severe disease data to estimate the transmission dynamics of the epidemics by Bayesian inference. After that, we conducted extensive counterfactual simulations based on the fitted transmission dynamics and considered varying age-specific vaccination coverages and timing to estimate the impact on severe disease across scenarios.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>If individuals over 80 had primary series coverage similar to the adult population, 27.6 % (95 % posterior predictive interval [PPI]: 24.7 %, 31.1 %) of deaths could have been averted. High primary series coverage in 40–49-year-olds averted 32.6 % (95 % PPI: 30.0 %, 35.5 %) more hospitalisations. Advancing the adult or senior vaccination campaign by two weeks significantly reduced deaths by 498 (95 % PPI: 309, 688) and 601 (95 % PPI: 412, 792), respectively. Earlier vaccination of children had no significant impact on population-wide deaths.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Low elderly primary series coverage led to the most preventable deaths, while high coverage in middle-aged groups significantly averted excess hospitalisations. Our study underscores the importance of targeting COVID-19 vaccinations in high-risk and transmission-driving groups, as well as vaccination time-sensitivity, where each week difference, averts or abets morbidity and mortality.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16087,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Infection and Public Health","volume":"18 12","pages":"Article 102972"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145085923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring respiratory tract infections in acute Irish hospitals (2016–2021)","authors":"Doaa Amin ,&nbsp;Gerry Hughes ,&nbsp;Akke Vellinga","doi":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102970","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102970","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to explore the underlying characteristics of inpatients with an RTI pre-and-during the COVID-19 pandemic and apply supervised machine learning (ML) to predict the RTI diagnoses during the pandemic.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Data on inpatients with an RTI from 55 acute Irish hospitals (2016–2021) was extracted from the Irish hospital inpatient enquiry (HIPE) dataset. Multivariable logistic regression, random forests and extreme gradient boosting models were applied.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Out of 1,133,385 inpatients with an infection, 43.3 % had an RTI. Of which 65.2 % were before the pandemic and 34.8 % during the pandemic. In comparison to pre-pandemic, the median hospital length of stay (LOS) increased from 4 days to 5 (other RTIs) and 6 days (COVID-19). Deaths associated with an RTI increased from 3.3 % (pre-pandemic) to 7.6 % (during pandemic) (COVID-19: 11.3 %, and other RTIs: 3.5 %) and 5.2 % of COVID-19 infections were hospital acquired. Furthermore, inpatients with COVID-19 were generally younger than inpatients with other types of RTIs (75 % over the age of 45). Applying ML showed that a COVID-19 diagnosis was significantly associated with shortness of breath, cough, fever, chest pain, nausea and vomiting, malaise and fatigue, obesity, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, bradycardia, kidney diseases, and tachycardia. In addition, wheezing, smoking and heart diseases distinguished an RTI infection from COVID-19.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>During the pandemic, inpatients with an RTI infection had longer LOS and higher mortality compared to before the pandemic. Supervised ML is helpful in predicting an RTI diagnosis, with wheezing, smoking and heart diseases being the main discriminating factors between other types of RTIs from COVID-19 diagnoses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16087,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Infection and Public Health","volume":"18 12","pages":"Article 102970"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145106904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Environmental and social driving factors in shaping the transmissibility and seasonality of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in South Korea and Hong Kong","authors":"Zixuan Yao ,&nbsp;Sukhyun Ryu ,&nbsp;Yiu Chung Lau ,&nbsp;Kok Yin Eugene Chan ,&nbsp;Jiaming Xiong ,&nbsp;Taegu Kim ,&nbsp;Seunghyeon Lee ,&nbsp;Lin Wang ,&nbsp;Linyan Li ,&nbsp;Peng Wu ,&nbsp;Benjamin J. Cowling ,&nbsp;Sheikh Taslim Ali","doi":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102963","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102963","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common contagious viral illness that primarily affects young children. It typically occurs seasonally, with a peak during spring or summer in temperate regions. However, its transmission patterns are less regular in the tropics and subtropics with year-round circulation. In this study, we investigated the impacts of various drivers of HFMD transmission and seasonality across two distinct climatic locations: Hong Kong (a subtropical city) and South Korea (a temperate country).</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We collected weekly surveillance data for HFMD in Hong Kong and South Korea during 2010–2019 and inferred the instantaneous reproduction number (<span><math><msub><mrow><mi>R</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>t</mi></mrow></msub></math></span>) to measure the time-varing transmissibility of HFMD. Univariate regression models were employed to examine the associations between transmissibility and meteorological and social drivers. Additionnaly, multivariate regressions with lag analyses were conducted to quantify the impcats of different intrinsic and extrinsic drivers on transmissibility (<span><math><msub><mrow><mi>R</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>t</mi></mrow></msub></math></span>) and their seasonality.</div></div><div><h3>Findings</h3><div>We identified the depletion of susceptible and inter-seasonal factors as key intrinsic drivers for HFMD transmissibility and seasonality, explaining 30 % and 70 % of variance in <span><math><msub><mrow><mi>R</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>t</mi></mrow></msub></math></span> in Hong Kong and South Korea, respectively. Temperature, absolute humidity and school closures were significant extrinsic drivers explaining up to an additional 10 % −13 % variance in <span><math><msub><mrow><mi>R</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>t</mi></mrow></msub></math></span> in both locations. A non-linear inverted U-shaped form of association for temperature and absolute humidity with HFMD transmissibility improved model predictions, explaining up to 7–8 % variability of the transmissibility individually in both locations.</div></div><div><h3>Interpretation</h3><div>Seasonal transmission patterns of HFMD in two different locations in Hong Kong and South Korea were driven by depletion of susceptible individuals and inverted U-shaped associations with temperature and absolute humidity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16087,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Infection and Public Health","volume":"18 12","pages":"Article 102963"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145060708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Clinical characteristics analysis of anti-interferon-γ autoantibodies-associated adult-onset immunodeficiency with mycobacterium tuberculosis infection","authors":"Xuemei Huang ,&nbsp;Siyao Wu ,&nbsp;Qiangxiu Zeng ,&nbsp;Siqiao Liang ,&nbsp;Hanlin Liang ,&nbsp;Mengchan Wang ,&nbsp;Limei Hong ,&nbsp;Xiaona Liang ,&nbsp;Ni Chen ,&nbsp;Yan Ning ,&nbsp;Haiyan Pang ,&nbsp;Ziyi Zhang ,&nbsp;Ying Nong ,&nbsp;Ping Yan ,&nbsp;Zhiyi He","doi":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102952","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102952","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Anti-interferon-γ autoantibodies (AIGAs) syndrome is a rare adult-onset immunodeficiency (AOID) syndrome with multiple opportunistic infections. However, its clinical characteristics in <em>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</em> (MTB) infection remain unclear.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A prospective cohort study of adult patients with opportunistic infections was conducted from January 2021 to January 2025 in Guangxi, southern China. MTB-infected patients were divided into AIGAs-positive and AIGAs-negative groups, and their clinical and laboratory data were compared. Additionally, the AIGAs-positive group was divided into subgroups (with or without <em>nontuberculous mycobacteria</em> (NTM) or <em>Talaromyces marneffei</em> (TM) co-infection) for detailed analysis.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Among over 400 patients recruited, 48 of the 86 with MTB infection were AIGAs-positive (Group 1), and 38 were AIGAs-negative (Group 2). Group 1 patients commonly show involvement of the lungs, lymph nodes, bones, and skin, with often multi-organ involvement. Disseminated infections are more prevalent in Group 1, often accompanied by TM/NTM infections. They also show elevated white blood cell count, neutrophils, monocytes, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, globulin, and immunoglobulin G levels (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05). During an average follow-up of 19 months, 50.00 % of patients experienced acute exacerbations, of which 82.61 % were caused by new pathogen infections. Multivariable Cox regression analysis indicated that splenic involvement, elevated serum G test levels, and NTM infection were risk factors for disease progression (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05). The TM/NTM co-infected subgroup had higher acute exacerbation rates, AIGAs titers, inflammatory/immune markers, and more organ involvement.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Patients with AIGAs-related AOID and MTB infection had high infection markers, immune issues, and multi-organ involvement, which worsened with TM/NTM co-infection.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16087,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Infection and Public Health","volume":"18 12","pages":"Article 102952"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145092048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Circulating Extracellular Vesicle miR-150–5p as a biomarker for optimizing clinical management of sepsis and septic shock: A discovery and validation Study","authors":"Marta Martín-Fernández ,&nbsp;Belén Sánchez-Quirós ,&nbsp;Adrián García-Concejo ,&nbsp;Álvaro Tamayo-Velasco ,&nbsp;Rocío López-Herrero ,&nbsp;Miguel Bardají ,&nbsp;María Heredia-Rodríguez ,&nbsp;Rocío Aller ,&nbsp;Laura Sánchez de Prada ,&nbsp;Hugo Gonzalo-Benito ,&nbsp;Paula Moreno-Portales ,&nbsp;Óscar Gorgojo-Galindo ,&nbsp;Alba Montero-Jodra ,&nbsp;Pedro Martínez-Paz ,&nbsp;Rosario Calaveras ,&nbsp;Rosa Prieto-Utrera ,&nbsp;Rodrigo Poves-Álvarez ,&nbsp;María Sherezade Tovar-Doncel ,&nbsp;Salvador Resino ,&nbsp;Amanda Fernández-Rodríguez ,&nbsp;Esther Gómez-Sánchez","doi":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102966","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102966","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Sepsis and septic shock remain major causes of mortality in surgical patients. The role of extracellular vesicles (EVs), particularly their microRNAs (miRNAs) content, has emerged as key players in the detection and understanding of these conditions. Thus, this study aimed to profile circulating plasma-derived EV-miRNAs in patients with sepsis and septic shock to identify differential biomarkers that can facilitate the management of these patients.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A multicentric study was conducted in 100 patients who were followed prospectively, 58 developed septic shock and 42 developed sepsis. EV-miRNAs were isolated and massively sequenced to identify differentially expressed miRNAs between groups. Predictive performance was evaluated using receiver operating curves (ROC). Results were validated in an additional validation cohort. Furthermore, we compared our data with an external cohort of plasma miRNA data.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Eighteen SDE (Statistically Differentially Expressed) EV-miRNAs were identified between the two groups of patients. Six EV-miRNAs had a good ability to detect septic shock. Low levels of hsa-miR-150–5p showed the best ability to detect septic shock (AUC: 0.852; 95 % CI: 0.75–0.96; p &lt; 0.001) with a sensitivity of 86.96 % and a specificity of 78.72 %. hsa-miR-150–5p association with septic shock was validated and confirmed its presence in plasma via qPCR.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>In conclusion, hsa-miR-150–5p levels exhibit a significant differential expression between septic shock and sepsis patients. This biomarker may help in early risk stratification and guide clinical decisions in post-surgical sepsis management. Moreover, our findings suggest its potential as a therapeutic target in sepsis, although its use as a therapeutic target requires further investigation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16087,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Infection and Public Health","volume":"18 12","pages":"Article 102966"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145060707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Incidence, risk factors and outcomes of healthcare-associated bacterial infections in COVID-19 patients receiving respiratory support: a retrospective cohort study","authors":"Matteo Augello ,&nbsp;Roberto Castoldi ,&nbsp;Alessandro Tavelli ,&nbsp;Riccardo Nardo ,&nbsp;Valentina Sala ,&nbsp;Lorenzo Albertini ,&nbsp;Lorenzo Brando Lundgren ,&nbsp;Sara De Benedittis ,&nbsp;Elisa Borghi ,&nbsp;Ottavia Viganò ,&nbsp;Giulia Marchetti","doi":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102964","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102964","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>The aim of the present study was to assess the incidence, risk factors and outcomes of bacterial healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in COVID-19 patients receiving respiratory support.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This retrospective study included COVID-19 hospitalised patients requiring either invasive or non-invasive respiratory support at the ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo in Milan (Italy) from September 2020 to December 2021. Data on demographics, clinical/laboratory findings, and outcomes were extracted from electronic health records. The cumulative incidence rate of a first HAI episode was evaluated by cumulative incidence function. Risk factors for bacterial HAIs and their association with in-hospital mortality were analysed using Fine-Gray proportional hazard models.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Among 744 patients, 118 (15.9 %) developed at least one bacterial HAI during respiratory support, mostly caused by Gram-negative bacteria. The cumulative incidence of HAIs was 15.7 % by 30 days, and significantly higher in intensive care unit (ICU) settings compared to medical/surgical units (MSUs). Independent risk factors for HAIs were male sex [adjusted subhazard ratio (aSHR) 2.29, 95 % CI 1.39–3.78], ICU stay (aSHR 7.61, 95 % CI 3.32–17.43), and therapy with biological drugs (aSHR 2.11, 95 % CI 1.05–4.23). HAIs were associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality (aSHR 2.06, 95 % CI 1.44–2.96), with both pneumonias and bloodstream infections contributing significantly to mortality.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Bacterial HAIs are common in COVID-19 patients on respiratory support, especially in ICU settings, and are associated with increased mortality.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16087,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Infection and Public Health","volume":"18 12","pages":"Article 102964"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145080873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Methods and tools for rapid risk assessments for acute public health emergencies","authors":"Naif Khalaf Alharbi ,&nbsp;Lubna Alariqi ,&nbsp;Jas Mantero ,&nbsp;Leena Zeyad ,&nbsp;Kyeng Mercy ,&nbsp;Nijuan Xiang ,&nbsp;Sharon Calvin ,&nbsp;Karl Ekdahl ,&nbsp;Anas Khan ,&nbsp;Helen Roberts ,&nbsp;Mark Salter ,&nbsp;Cat McGillycuddy ,&nbsp;Christopher Brown ,&nbsp;Eric Marble ,&nbsp;Emilie Peron ,&nbsp;Aura Corpuz ,&nbsp;Fatma AlAttar ,&nbsp;Mohamed Abdulmajeed Alawadhi ,&nbsp;Emad Almohammadi ,&nbsp;Khalid Al-Harthy ,&nbsp;Pasi Penttinen","doi":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102965","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102965","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Public Health Emergencies can arise from chemical, biological, and radio-nuclear (CBRN) and natural or man-made environmental hazards. These events can threaten human health, especially with certain biological hazards. Therefore, a significant role of public health agencies is to early-detect, promptly assess, evaluate, and communicate the risk to decision-makers for preventative or responsive actions. Although rapid risk assessment (RRA) for acute public health events has been in practice for decades, there is still potential to standardize and improve its process and outputs by harnessing new opportunities, especially with digitalization and cross-sector collaboration. In this article, we present an overview of the RRA processes, methods, and tools described by ten public health agencies and groups at an international workshop on 6–7 June 2023. This article also presents challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for enhancing the RRA efficiency and increasing knowledge about RRA processes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16087,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Infection and Public Health","volume":"18 12","pages":"Article 102965"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145119351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Global Mpox outbreaks: A comprehensive epidemiological assessment (2022–2024)","authors":"Shraddha Tiwari ,&nbsp;Thakur Dhakal ,&nbsp;Youhyun Son ,&nbsp;Tulsi Paudel ,&nbsp;Madhu Sudhan Atteraya ,&nbsp;Jaewan Lee ,&nbsp;Jang Gab Sue ,&nbsp;Yeonsu Oh","doi":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102969","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102969","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>The global outbreak of monkeypox (Mpox) in humans has become a substantial public health concern, with over 115,000 confirmed cases across 126 territories worldwide between May 2022 and November 2024. In this context, we examined the basic reproduction number (<em>R</em>_<em>0</em>), doubling time, case fatality rate, and inter-country connectivity of ongoing outbreaks documented in Our World in Data portal.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Epidemiological parameters <em>R</em>_<em>0</em> and doubling time were examined using a 9-day mean infectious period. Networks were analyzed using correlation and co-occurrence of outbreaks. The disease hub regions were examined using connectivity graphs’ degree and betweenness centrality measures. Furthermore, spatial autocorrelation analysis was performed using Moran’s I to assess distribution trends.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The <em>R</em>_<em>0</em> and doubling time varied across regions, with a global mean of 1.046 and 373.12 days, respectively. This finding suggests that sustained transmission is limited; however, the potential for exponential spread of disease outbreaks persists. Global spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed moderate clustering of Mpox cases (Moran’s I = 0.067, <em>p-value</em> = 0.075). Outbreak connectivity analysis revealed significant intercountry disease spread, indicating rapid cross-border transmission. Countries such as Germany, the United States, Australia, Italy, Belgium, and Spain were identified as disease-controlling hubs. The results also show the interconnectedness of global cases identified by network analysis.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Understanding outbreak dynamics, global spatial distribution patterns, and connectivity is essential for advancing the One Health approach and mitigating future disease risks. The findings reveal the risk of global Mpox transmission, emphasizing the need for continued surveillance, contact tracing, quarantine measures, and global collaboration to help curtail the global spread of Mpox.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16087,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Infection and Public Health","volume":"18 12","pages":"Article 102969"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145085494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reducing invasive RSV diagnostic testing with machine learning: A retrospective validation study","authors":"Shota Kawamoto ,&nbsp;Yoshihiko Morikawa ,&nbsp;Naohisa Yahagi","doi":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102967","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102967","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>To evaluate whether a machine learning (ML) based screening algorithm can optimize respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) testing while maintaining high diagnostic accuracy in pediatric patients.</div></div><div><h3>Study design</h3><div>We conducted a retrospective analysis of pediatric patients under 2 years old who presented with respiratory infection symptoms and received RSV testing at Yokohama Municipal Citizen's Hospital (2009–2015). The cohort was divided into training (2009–2013; n = 3587) and validation (2014–2015; n = 587) sets. Using patient-reported symptoms and background characteristics from structured electronic questionnaires, we collected clinical symptoms and patient characteristics to build an ML model for predicting RSV testing necessity according to established clinical guidelines, focusing on hospitalized patients and those with underlying conditions.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The median age was 11.2 and 11.7 months in the training and validation sets, respectively, with hospitalization rates of 45.4 % and 43.1 %. The ML model showed good performance, achieving a sensitivity of 77.1 % and specificity of 73.4 % in the training dataset, with improved sensitivity (85.1 %) and comparable specificity (71.2 %) in validation. Implementation could potentially reduce unnecessary testing by 77.9 % (98.5 tests annually) for cases requiring hospitalization and 72.9 % (17.5 tests) for patients with underlying conditions, with negative predictive values of 97.0 % and 100 %, respectively.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>This study demonstrates that ML-based screening using symptom data could substantially reduce unnecessary invasive RSV testing while maintaining high diagnostic accuracy. The approach offers promising clinical utility by potentially minimizing patient discomfort and optimizing resource allocation in pediatric respiratory care.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16087,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Infection and Public Health","volume":"18 12","pages":"Article 102967"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145020301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Infectious endocarditis caused by Elizabethkingia spp.: Two case reports and a literature review","authors":"Valentin Colin ,&nbsp;Brice Guerpillon ,&nbsp;Mathieu Blot ,&nbsp;Lionel Piroth ,&nbsp;Lucie Amoureux ,&nbsp;Jean Philippe Talarmin ,&nbsp;Thibault Sixt","doi":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102968","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102968","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We report two cases of <em>Elizabethkingia-</em>related infective endocarditis, highlighting key risk factors such as prosthetic valve replacement. These cases underscore the need to consider endocarditis in the setting of persistent or recurrent bacteremia.</div><div>Diagnosis proved challenging and required multiple imaging modalities, with positron emission tomography (PET) scan providing critical value when echocardiography was non-contributory. Management was complicated by the organism’s intrinsic multidrug resistance and the rapid emergence of additional resistance during therapy. These cases emphasize the importance of combination antibiotic regimens, in which minocycline may play a key role.</div><div>Due to its ability to rapidly adhere to and produce biofilm on prosthetic valves, our cases support the need for early surgical intervention to eradicate the biofilm and limit further resistance development. To better characterize this rare entity, we conducted a literature review of previously reported cases, which reinforces the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges associated with <em>Elizabethkingia</em> endocarditis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":16087,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Infection and Public Health","volume":"18 12","pages":"Article 102968"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145005229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}