Emerging infectious diseases
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · Mar 2001
Feeding back surveillance data to prevent hospital-acquired infections.
We describe the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance system. Elements of the system critical for successful reduction of nosocomial infection rates include voluntary participation and confidentiality; standard definitions and protocols; identification of populations at high risk; site-specific, risk- adjusted infection rates comparable across institutions; adequate numbers of trained infection control professionals; dissemination of data to health-care providers; and a link between monitored rates and prevention efforts.
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · Jul 2000
ReviewMigratory birds and spread of West Nile virus in the Western Hemisphere.
West Nile virus, an Old World flavivirus related to St. Louis encephalitis virus, was first recorded in the New World during August 1999 in the borough of Queens, New York City. Through October 1999, 62 patients, 7 of whom died, had confirmed infections with the virus. ⋯ If transovarial transmission or survival in overwintering mosquitoes were the principal means for its persistence, West Nile virus might not become established in the New World because of aggressive mosquito suppression campaigns conducted in the New York area. However, the pattern of outbreaks in southern Europe suggests that viremic migratory birds may also contribute to movement of the virus. If so, West Nile virus has the potential to cause outbreaks throughout both temperate and tropical regions of the Western Hemisphere.
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · May 2000
Genetic variation in Pneumocystis carinii isolates from different geographic regions: implications for transmission.
To study transmission patterns of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in persons with AIDS, we evaluated P. carinii isolates from patients in five U. S. cities for variation at two independent genetic loci, the mitochondrial large subunit rRNA and dihydropteroate synthase. ⋯ Genotype frequency distribution patterns varied by patients' place of diagnosis but not by place of birth. Genetic variation at the two loci suggests three probable characteristics of transmission: that most cases of PCP do not result from infections acquired early in life, that infections are actively acquired from a relatively common source (humans or the environment), and that humans, while not necessarily involved in direct infection of other humans, are nevertheless important in the transmission cycle of P. carinii f. sp. hominis.
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · Sep 1999
ReviewWest Nile fever--a reemerging mosquito-borne viral disease in Europe.
West Nile virus causes sporadic cases and outbreaks of human and equine disease in Europe (western Mediterranean and southern Russia in 1962-64, Belarus and Ukraine in the 1970s and 1980s, Romania in 1996-97, Czechland in 1997, and Italy in 1998). Environmental factors, including human activities, that enhance population densities of vector mosquitoes (heavy rains followed by floods, irrigation, higher than usual temperature, or formation of ecologic niches that enable mass breeding of mosquitoes) could increase the incidence of West Nile fever.
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · May 1999
Bacterial resistance to ciprofloxacin in Greece: results from the National Electronic Surveillance System. Greek Network for the Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance.
According to 1997 susceptibility data from the National Electronic System for the Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance, Greece has high rates of ciprofloxacin resistance. For most species, the frequency of ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates (from highest to lowest, by patient setting) was as follows: intensive care unit > surgical > medical > outpatient. Most ciprofloxacin-resistant strains were multidrug resistant.