{"title":"Emerging and other infectious diseases: epidemiology and control.","authors":"D L Heymann","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":76824,"journal":{"name":"World health statistics quarterly. Rapport trimestriel de statistiques sanitaires mondiales","volume":"50 3-4","pages":"158-60"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20403084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Global situation of dengue and dengue haemorrhagic fever, and its emergence in the Americas.","authors":"F P Pinheiro, S J Corber","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>About two-thirds of the world's population live in areas infested with dengue vectors, mainly Aedes aegypti. All four dengue viruses are circulating, sometimes simultaneously, in most of these areas. It is estimated that up to 80 million persons become infected annually although marked underreporting results in the notification of much smaller figures. Currently dengue is endemic in all continents except Europe and epidemic dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) occurs in Asia, the Americas and some Pacific islands. The incidence of DHF is much greater in the Asian countries than in other regions. In Asian countries the disease continues to affect children predominantly although a marked increase in the number of DHF cases in people over 15 years old has been observed in the Philippines and Malaysia during recent years. In the 1990's DHF has continued to show a higher incidence in South-East Asia, particularly in Viet Nam and Thailand which together account for more than two-thirds of the DHF cases reported in Asia. However, an increase in the number of reported cases has been noted in the Philippines, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, India, Singapore and Sri Lanka during the period 1991-1995 as compared to the preceding 5-year period. In the Americas, the emergence of epidemic DHF occurred in 1981 almost 30 years after its appearance in Asia, and its incidence is showing a marked upward trend. In 1981 Cuba reported the first major outbreak of DHF in the Americas, during which a total of 344,203 cases of dengue were notified, including 10,312 severe cases and 158 deaths. The DHF Cuban epidemic was associated with a strain of dengue-2 virus and it occurred four years after dengue-1 had been introduced in the island causing epidemics of dengue fever. Prior to this event suspected cases of DHF or fatal dengue cases had been reported by five countries but only a few of them fulfilled the WHO criteria for diagnosis of DHF. The outbreak in Cuba is the most important event in the history of dengue in the Americas. Subsequently to it, in every year except 1983, confirmed or suspected cases of DHF have been reported in the Region. The second major outbreak in the Americas occurred in Venezuela in 1989 and since then this country has suffered epidemics of DHF every year. Between 1981 and 1996 a total of 42,246 cases of DHF and 582 deaths were reported by 25 countries in the Americas, 53% of which originated from Venezuela and 24% from Cuba. Colombia, Nicaragua and Mexico have each reported over 1,000 cases during the period 1992-1996. About 74% of the Colombian cases and 97% of the Mexican cases were reported during 1995-1996. A main cause of the emergence of DHF in the Americas was the failure of the hemispheric campaign to eradicate Aedes aegypti. Following a successful period that resulted in the elimination of the mosquito from 18 countries by 1962, the programme began to decline and as a result there was a progressive diss","PeriodicalId":76824,"journal":{"name":"World health statistics quarterly. Rapport trimestriel de statistiques sanitaires mondiales","volume":"50 3-4","pages":"161-9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20403085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Virus transmission via food.","authors":"D O Cliver","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Viruses are transmitted to humans via foods as a result of direct or indirect contamination of the foods with human faeces. Viruses transmitted by a faecal-oral route are not strongly dependent on foods as vehicles of transmission, but viruses are important among agents of foodborne disease. Vehicles are most often molluscs from contaminated waters, but many other foods are contaminated directly by infected persons. The viruses most often foodborne are the hepatitis A virus and the Norwalk-like gastroenteritis viruses. Detection methods for these viruses in foods are very difficult and costly; the methods are not routine. Indicators that would rapidly and reliably suggest the presence of viral contamination of foods are still being sought. Contamination can be prevented by keeping faeces out of food or by treating vehicles such as water in order to inactivate virus that might be carried to food in this way. Virus cannot multiply in food, but can usually be inactivated by adequate heating. Other methods of inactivating viruses within a food are relatively unreliable, but viruses in water and on exposed surfaces can be inactivated with ultraviolet light or with strong oxidizing agents.</p>","PeriodicalId":76824,"journal":{"name":"World health statistics quarterly. Rapport trimestriel de statistiques sanitaires mondiales","volume":"50 1-2","pages":"90-101"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20223289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The role of food in the epidemiology of cholera.","authors":"M J Albert, M Neira, Y Motarjemi","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cholera is an acute dehydrating diarrhoeal disease, traditionally caused by vibrio cholerae O1, and also more recently by V. cholerae O139 (Bengal). Traditionally, water was recognized as the primary vehicle for transmission of cholera, but in the past 30 years, outbreaks of cholera associated with eating contaminated food have demonstrated that food also plays an important role, although in many instances water is the source of contamination of foods. Most commonly associated with cholera is seafood, both molluscan shellfish and crustaceans. Seafood may be contaminated in its natural environment or during preparation. Other food items associated with outbreaks are fruit and vegetables, meat, cooked grains, etc. Vegetables are usually contaminated by contact with sewage in soil and fruits when injected with contaminated water to increase weight and turgor. Food items initially free from V. cholerae organism may become contaminated when mixed with water, or other contaminated food, or through handling by infected persons who have not observed proper hygiene. Refrigeration, freezing, alkaline pH, high concentration of carbohydrate, humidity and absence of competing flora enhance the survival of V. cholerae in food. Survival of V. cholerae is shorter in food with acidic pH. Foodborne cholera can be averted by the hygienic preparation of food and its consumption. However, since the vehicles of transmission vary markedly from place to place, being affected by local customs and practices, selected control and preventive measures that are most important locally must be implemented. To this end, application of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system to food preparation is essential in order to identify the practices which may present a risk. Restrictions on importation of foods which do not present a risk of being contaminated from areas where cholera is endemic is not warranted.</p>","PeriodicalId":76824,"journal":{"name":"World health statistics quarterly. Rapport trimestriel de statistiques sanitaires mondiales","volume":"50 1-2","pages":"111-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20223291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Establishment of microbiological safety criteria for foods in international trade. International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods.","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Microbiological safety is achieved by applying good hygienic practices throughout the food chain, \"from farm to fork\". Governmental food control is traditionally based on inspection of the facilities where foods are handled, and on testing food samples. Testing is usually applied to imported foods, when no information concerning the safety of a consignment is available. The microbiological safety is judged by means of microbiological criteria. Such criteria should, in the context of the WTO/SPS measures, be scientifically justified, and established according to the principles described by the Codex Alimentarius. However, microbiological testing is not a very reliable tool for consumer protection; the emphasis is currently shifting to the application of food safety management tools such as the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point system (HACCP).</p>","PeriodicalId":76824,"journal":{"name":"World health statistics quarterly. Rapport trimestriel de statistiques sanitaires mondiales","volume":"50 1-2","pages":"119-23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20223292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Epidemiology of foodborne diseases: tools and applications.","authors":"M E Potter, R V Tauxe","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Food safety is a complex matter that depends on a number of interrelated environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic factors. The purpose of epidemiology and surveillance is to define these factors, how they interact, and their relative importance in foodborne infections. The tools epidemiologists use to study foodborne disease include surveillance of specific infections in humans, monitoring of contamination with specific pathogens in foods and animals, intensive outbreak investigations, collecting reports of outbreaks at the regional or national level, and studies of sporadic infections. With sufficiently elaborate systems of surveillance and investigation, it is possible to provide quantitative risk data for foodborne diseases that will permit the wisest allocation of food safety resources.</p>","PeriodicalId":76824,"journal":{"name":"World health statistics quarterly. Rapport trimestriel de statistiques sanitaires mondiales","volume":"50 1-2","pages":"24-9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20221974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Economic costs and trade impacts of microbial foodborne illness.","authors":"J C Buzby, T Roberts","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article presents the economic costs of foodborne diseases for selected countries, the approaches used to calculate these costs, and a discussion on the interaction between microbial food safety issues and international trade in food. The human illness costs due to foodborne pathogens are estimated most completely in the United States of America, where, each year, 7 foodborne pathogens (Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli O157:H7. Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, and Toxoplasma gondii) cause an estimated 3.3-12.3 million cases of foodborne illness and up to 3900 deaths. These 7 pathogens are found in animal products and cost the United States an estimated $6.5-$34.9 billion (1995 US$) annually. The presence of foodborne pathogens in a country's food supply not only affects the health of the local population, but also represents a potential for spread to pathogens to visitors to the country and to consumers in countries which import food products. With more complete data on foodborne illnesses, deaths, costs and international trade rejections in each country, indicators could be developed by which changes in food safety can be monitored.</p>","PeriodicalId":76824,"journal":{"name":"World health statistics quarterly. Rapport trimestriel de statistiques sanitaires mondiales","volume":"50 1-2","pages":"57-66"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20221977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The whole-body incorporation of radioactive caesium in Switzerland during the last 30 years: a survey of young persons in Geneva and some measurements of Belarusian and Ukrainian children.","authors":"A Donath","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In a cross-sectional study, at least 40 young men and women about 18 years old (half of each sex) were selected each year, and the body concentration of 137Cs was measured in a whole-body counter. This radioisotope, with a half-life of 30 years, originates from the atom bomb explosions in the atmosphere, which were stopped in 1963, or from the accident at Chernobyl. The concentrations due to the emissions from this reactor remained below one-third of the values due to atomic bombs. The results in children from Belarus who spent a few weeks in Switzerland in the summer are lower than would have been expected according to the literature from Russia, but correspond to those recently obtained in situ by international scientific teams.</p>","PeriodicalId":76824,"journal":{"name":"World health statistics quarterly. Rapport trimestriel de statistiques sanitaires mondiales","volume":"49 1","pages":"32-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19860201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
K König, S Mundigl, I Winkelmann, L Hornung, W Burkart
{"title":"First attempts at validation of radiation exposure of the population along the Techa River, southern Urals.","authors":"K König, S Mundigl, I Winkelmann, L Hornung, W Burkart","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A research programme sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety (BMU) was conducted during 1992 and 1993 in the Southern Urals, to provide an initial validation and comparison of results of population exposure arising from the release of radioactive waste from the MAYAK nuclear facility between the years 1948 and 1967. This programme included investigations of the contamination of the soil, of food (milk, drinking-water, potatoes) and whole-body-counter measurements of inhabitants of settlements at the Techa River. The nuclides of interest were plutonium isotopes and the long-lived fission products 137Cs and 90Sr. Results of these investigations, particularly in and around the village of Muslyumovo (78 km downstream from the point of release of the radioactive waste into the Techa River), are shown. These investigations are a first step towards an independent validation of the enormous data base collected by the Russian institutes and of derived values of the doses to the population of the Techa River.</p>","PeriodicalId":76824,"journal":{"name":"World health statistics quarterly. Rapport trimestriel de statistiques sanitaires mondiales","volume":"49 1","pages":"52-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19862458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
N Nakamura, C Miyazawa, M Akiyama, S Sawada, A A Awa
{"title":"Biodosimetry: chromosome aberration in lymphocytes and electron paramagnetic resonance in tooth enamel from atomic bomb survivors.","authors":"N Nakamura, C Miyazawa, M Akiyama, S Sawada, A A Awa","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>One hundred enamel samples isolated from extracted teeth donated by atomic bomb survivors were subjected to free radical measurement by means of electron paramagnetic resonance (ESR). Results comparing ESR with the chromosome aberration frequency in lymphocytes of the tooth donors, and with the physically estimated DS86 dose suggested that ESR data correlated more closely with chromosome data than with the estimated DS86 doses, probably because DS86 may depend on erroneous memory in some cases.</p>","PeriodicalId":76824,"journal":{"name":"World health statistics quarterly. Rapport trimestriel de statistiques sanitaires mondiales","volume":"49 1","pages":"67-71"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"19862461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}