Articles: pandemics.
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2021 and the COVID 19 pandemic have brought unprecedented blood shortages worldwide. These deficits have propelled national efforts to reduce blood usage, including limiting elective services and accelerating Patient Blood Management (PBM) initiatives. A host of research dedicated to blood usage and management within cardiac surgery has continued to emerge. The intent of this review is to highlight this past year's research pertaining to PBM and COVID-19-related coagulation changes.
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The Covid-19 pandemic appeared in China in December 2019 as a cluster of transmissible pneumonia caused by a new betacoronavirus. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a pandemic. Covid-19 is a mild infection in 80% of cases, serious in 15% and critical in 5%. ⋯ The second has been favored in critical periods such as April 2020, when 2.5 billion people throughout the world were confined. Vaccination campaigns got underway at the end of December 2020 and progressed without reaching sufficient herd immunity, leading some nations to consider compulsory vaccination or to require a vaccine or health pass, in order for persons to access different activities. Will the pandemic stop with Omicron and become endemic? This part of the Covid-19 story remains to be told.
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The structural environment of urban slums, including physical, demographic, and socioeconomic attributes, renders inhabitants more vulnerable to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Yet, little is known about the specific determinants that contribute to high transmission within these communities. We therefore aimed to investigate SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in an urban slum in Brazil. ⋯ Prior to the peak of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, cumulative incidence as assessed by serology approached 50% in a Brazilian urban slum population. In contrast to observations from industrialized countries, SARS-CoV-2 incidence was highest among children, as well as women living in extreme poverty. These findings emphasize the need for targeted interventions that provide safe environments for children and mitigate the structural risks posed by crowding and poverty for the most vulnerable residents of urban slum communities.
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Annals of family medicine · Sep 2022
Caregiving in a Pandemic: Health-Related Socioeconomic Vulnerabilities Among Women Caregivers Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Family and friends who provide regular care for a sick or dependent individual ("caregivers") are at increased risk of health-related socioeconomic vulnerabilities (HRSVs). This study examined pre-pandemic prevalence of and early pandemic changes in HRSVs among women caregivers compared with non-caregivers. ⋯ The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic increased risk of incident and worsening HRSVs for caregivers more than for non-caregivers. COVID-19 response and recovery efforts should target caregivers to reduce modifiable HRSVs and promote the health of caregivers and those who depend on them.Annals Online First article.
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The cholera epidemic that hit Haiti from October 2010 to February 2019 was the world's deadliest of the last 25 years. Officially, the successive waves caused 9789 deaths, although numerous additional casualties could not be recorded. The origin of this epidemic has been the subject of a controversy involving two opposing theories. ⋯ Case-area targeted interventions aimed at interrupting cholera transmission were reinforced, which resulted in the extinction of the epidemic within two years. In the meantime, several phylogenetic studies on Vibrio cholerae during the seventh cholera pandemic demonstrated that local environmental and global epidemic Vibrio populations were distinct. These studies also showed that epidemics arose when the bacterium had diversified and that it had spread during transmission events associated with human travel.