Project description:Some variants of SARS-CoV-2 are associated with increased transmissibility, increased disease severity or decreased vaccine effectiveness (VE). In this population-based cohort study (n = 4,204,859), the Delta variant was identified in 5,430 (0.13%) individuals, of whom 84 were admitted to hospital. VE against laboratory confirmed infection with the Delta variant was 22.4% among partly vaccinated (95% confidence interval (CI): 17.0-27.4) and 64.6% (95% CI: 60.6-68.2) among fully vaccinated individuals, compared with 54.5% (95% CI: 50.4-58.3) and 84.4% (95%CI: 81.8-86.5) against the Alpha variant.
Project description:Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging mosquito-borne flavivirus that can potentially threaten South China. A Chinese family of four returning from Venezuela to China was found to be positive for ZIKV when the youngest son's fever was first detected at an airport immigration inspection. They were isolated temporarily in a local hospital in Enping city, Guangdong province, where their clinical data were recorded and urine and saliva were collected to isolate ZIKV and to obtain viral sequences. All of them except the mother presented mild symptoms of rash and fever. Envelope gene sequences from the father, daughter and son were completely identical. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that this strain is similar to several imported strains reported in recent months, which are all clustered into a group isolated from 2015 ZIKA outbreaks in Brazil. Together with the climatic features in Venezuela, New York and Guangdong in February, it can be concluded that our subjects are imported cases from Venezuela. With the same viral sequence being shared between family members, neither direct human-to-human nor vector transmission can be ruled out in this study, but the former seems more likely. Although our subjects had mild illness, epidemiologists and public health officials should be aware of the risk of further expansion of ZIKV transmission by local competent vectors.
Project description:High case counts after the Gamma (P. 1) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 emerged in Brazil raised concerns that previously infected persons might become reinfected. Investigation of a cluster of coronavirus disease cases in Parintins, in the Brazilian Amazon, suggested household transmission but did not identify high rates of reinfection.
Project description:ObjectivesAn increased trend in the number of reported gonorrhoea cases has been observed between 2014 and 2017 in China. This study aims to describe the reported epidemic of gonorrhoea and potential driving forces in Guangdong Province, China.DesignA review of surveillance data.ParticipantsThree different sources of data from Guangdong Province were analysed: gonorrhoea cases reported to the Chinese sexually transmitted infections (STI) case report system (CRS); a clinic-based retrospective study conducted to collect information on annual gonorrhoea screening coverage and data from the Guangdong governmental sentinel surveillance network (SSN) to examine the gonorrhoea prevalence among males attending STI clinics.Outcome measuresReported incidence of gonorrhoea, number of reported gonorrhoea cases, number of screening tests for gonorrhoea and gonorrhoea prevalence.ResultsThe STI CRS data showed that the reported incidence of gonorrhoea has increased rapidly from 15.7 cases per 100 000 population in 2014 to 27.3 cases per 100 000 in 2017 in Guangdong (p<0.001). Regions with a reported incidence of gonorrhoea cases of more than 10 cases per 100 000 expanded from 7 cities in 2014 to 13 cities in 2017. The SSN data showed that the gonorrhoea prevalence among males attending STI clinics increased from 2.7% in 2015 to 3.6% in 2017 (p=0.14). The retrospective study showed that the increased rate of screening for gonorrhoea between 2014 and 2017 was 35.0%, which was much lower than the increased rate of the number of reported gonorrhoea cases (123.3%).ConclusionsThe number of gonococcal infections is rapidly rising in Guangdong, China. Expanded screening coverage, use of more sensitive diagnostics and increase of gonorrhoea prevalence are three potential contributors to the epidemic. Additional targeted intervention strategies are necessary in the future to control the epidemic.
Project description:We report an imported case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant P.1 detected in an asymptomatic traveler who arrived in Italy on an indirect flight from Brazil. This case shows the risk for introduction of SARS-CoV-2 variants from indirect flights and the need for continued SARS-CoV-2 surveillance.