This study demonstrates the first case report in which an NK Cell deficiency initially presented as an asymptomatic disseminated herpes simplex viremia (HSV). A pre-term 13- day- old patient presented with disseminated HSV after investigation because his twin brother was found to have HSV vesicular lesions. The patient remained asymptomatic throughout the entire hospital course. While 40% of neonates never exhibit vesicular lesions, most of the infants will be symptomatic with DIC and/or respiratory and/or hepatic failure. The HSV development in his twin brother prompted immediate multiple HSV PCR testing even though he was asymptomatic. The results were positive for HSV in both plasma & nasopharynx. He received intravenous acyclovir treatment for 21 days. Both CSF & brain MRI studies demonstrated no CNS involvement. He was discharged home with oral acyclovir for one year. Two months after being off acyclovir he developed herpetic vesicles which resolved with acyclovir treatment. Currently, he is on chronic acyclovir treatment. Lymphocyte enumeration tests demonstrated NK cell deficiency. Typically, HSV is a virulent symptomatic infection especially when it presents with viremia. Here we have a case of asymptomatic HSV viremia. Likewise, HSV infection does not usually recur after 1 year of acyclovir treatment. Here, we have a child presenting with what seems to be recurrent congenital HSV infection even with adequate treatment. These atypical HSV presentations may have been due to NK cell deficiency. We, therefore, propose that clinicians should consider NK cell deficiency as possible etiology when HSV presents in an atypical manner as described in our case.

Adherence to masking recommendations and requirements continues to have a wide variety of impacts in terms of viral spread during the ongoing pandemic. As governments, schools, and private sector businesses formulate decisions around mask requirements, it is important to observe real-life adherence to policies and discern subsequent implications. The CDC MASCUP! observational study tracked mask-wearing habits of students on higher-education campuses across the country to collect stratified data about mask typologies, correct mask usage, and differences in behaviors at locations on a college campus and in the surrounding community. Our findings from a single institution include a significant adherence difference between on-campus (86%) and off-campus sites (72%) across the course of this study as well as a notable change in adherence at the on-campus sites with the expiration of a county-wide governmental mandate, despite continuance of a university-wide mandate. This study, completed on and around the campus of East Tennessee State University in Washington County TN, was able to pivotally extract information regarding increased adherence on campus versus the surrounding community. Changes were also seen when mask mandates were implemented and when they expired.

Bakgrund: Isolering kan användas som åtgärd då en patient har en infektion eller en smittsam sjukdom och måste separeras från omgivningen för att förhindra smittöverföring. Smittsamma sjukdomar beskrivs som sjukdomar som kan innebära en fara mot människors hälsa och som kan överföras till eller mellan människor. Sjuksköterskor har ett ansvar att förebygga och begränsa utbrott eller spridning av smittsamma sjukdomar. Patienter i isolering uttrycker ett missnöje över sjuksköterskors hantering av vården och upplever att inte bli behandlade med värdighet och respekt. Sjuksköterskor ska ha ett holistiskt synsätt, se individen bakom sjukdomen och stärka patientens känsla av värdighet. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva sjuksköterskans erfarenheter av att vårda patienter med smittsamma sjukdomar i isolering. Metod: Studien var en allmän litteraturstudie och inkluderade 10 vetenskapliga artiklar som bearbetades i en innehållsanalys. Resultat: Tre huvudkategorier identifierades; utmaningar i omvårdnaden, sjuksköterskans egna reaktioner och arbetsmiljöns betydelse. Resultatet visar att sjuksköterskor upplevde utmaningar med att bedriva högkvalitativ omvårdnad för patienter i isolering. Konklusion: Det finns behov av vidare forskning och förbättringsarbete för att skapa en mer gynnsam arbetsmiljö för sjuksköterskor och en personcentrerad vård av hög kvalitet för patienter i isolering. / Background: Isolation can be used when a patient has an infection or a communicable disease and must be separated from the environment to prevent infection transmission. Communicable diseases are described as diseases that may pose a danger to human health, and which can be transmitted to or between people. Nurses have a responsibility to prevent and limit disease outbreaks or spread of communicable diseases. Patients in isolation express dissatisfaction with nurses’ handling of care and not being treated with dignity and respect. Nurses must have a holistic approach, see the individual behind the illness and strengthen the patient's sense of dignity. Aim: The aim was to describe the nurse's experiences of caring for patients with communicable diseases in isolation. Method: The study was a general literature study that included 10 scientific articles that were processed in a content analysis. Results: Three main categories were identified; challenges in nursing care, the nurse’s own reactions and the importance of the work environment. The results show that nurses experienced challenges in providing high-quality care for patients in isolation. Conclusion: There is a need for further research and improvement work to create a more favorable work environment for nurses and high-quality, person-centred care for patients in isolation.

INTRODUCTION: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) burden has increased significantly over the past decade in Saudi Arabia (SA). Disparities of NCDs disease prevalence have been documented; however, little is known regarding inequities in NCDs health services access and delivery especially at the primary health care (PHC) level. Moreover, equity considerations have not explicitly been part of allocative financial decision-making criteria. The goal of this study is to assess equity-related challenges in accessing NCDs services as well as the current NCDs priority setting and financial resources allocation process to support the ongoing health system transformation efforts. METHODS: This study used a mixed methods approach. The quantitative data was obtained from existing secondary data of 10,000 households’ surveys, The Kingdom of SA World Health Survey, 2019. The primary collected qualitative data consist of 33 in-depth interviews (IDIs) with public officials from national and regional level using an interview guide supported by documents review. A multiple logistic regression and thematic analysis were used for the analysis. RESULTS: More than 35% of people with diagnosed diabetes, hypertension or dyslipidemia have an unmet need of primary care services. Only 20% of surveyed women had a cervical cancer screening during their last pelvic exam while only 18% of eligible women ever had a mammogram. Significant factors affecting primary care services utilization were region of residence, population density, wealth, income and education. Findings from the interviews revealed that NCDs and PHC are top priorities of the Saudi health reform with strong political commitment and major investments. However, there is no clear strategic direction to improve NCDs services given the highly centralized financial system with suboptimal resources allocation towards PHC and where increasing efficiency focuses mainly on higher level care. Governance-related challenges include accountability and power struggle, partly due to financial and human resources variations across the region. DISCUSSION: Improving budget formulation for primary care and NCDs programs, and harmonizing NCDs programs funding across sectors apart from the health sector while defining what equity and allocative efficiency mean for the Saudi health system transformation are priorities to achieve the health system transformation goals. / 2025-12-11T00:00:00Z

The severity of flood events is predicted to increase as a consequence of climate change and may lead to a higher burden of waterborne infectious diseases in the United States. Contaminated floodwater transports bacterial, protozoal, and viral pathogens that typically cause moderate intestinal or respiratory disease, but can also lead to more serious disseminated infections among immunocompromised, young, and older people. Hydroclimatology and drinking water infrastructure influence the transmission of disease, but their roles are not well-understood and may vary by pathogen-type or geographic region. Specific outbreaks of waterborne disease have been attributed to major floods and cases have been positively associated with some meteorological variables, but the association between infections and flooding has not been systematically examined. In this dissertation, we examine the association between seasonal and extreme floods and parasitic and bacterial infections using multiple flood-indicator variables and exposure definitions. In Chapter 2, we use multimodel inference and generalized linear mixed models to determine the effect of seasonal meteorology on hospitalizations across the US. We found that hospitalization rates were generally higher in rural areas and in places that relied on groundwater for drinking water sources. Soil moisture, precipitation, and runoff were associated with significant increases in hospitalizations for Legionnaires' disease, Cryptosporidiosis, and Campylobacteriosis, respectively. In Chapter 3, we use 23 years of weekly case data to examine the effect of cyclonic storms on six waterborne infections in a conditional quasi-Poisson statistical model. Storm exposure was defined separately for distinct storm hazards, namely wind speed and cumulative rainfall, and effects were examined over 3 weeks post-storm. We found that exposure to storm-related rainfall was associated with immediate and lagged increases in cases. In Chapter 4, we use a nonparametric bootstrap to examine the effect of anomalous meteorological conditions, i.e. extremes unrelated to cyclonic storms, on Legionnaires' disease hospitalizations. We also assess the effect of exposure to specific cyclonic storms in a GLMM framework and compare these approaches. Extreme precipitation and months with cyclonic storms were positively associated with Legionnaires' disease hospitalizations. Determining the effect of flooding on Legionnaires' disease is particularly important as it causes severe illness and has steadily increased in incidence for 20 years. An objective of this dissertation was to develop a framework for examining flood-disease dynamics in the context of hydrometeorological and infrastructure-related factors that may influence transmission. We demonstrated that drinking water source, rurality, and geography may play an important role in these dynamics; the analyses also underscored, however, the urgent need for more extensive epidemiological surveillance and water quality data. Climate change will likely place a considerable strain on aging water infrastructure in the US. A nuanced understanding of flood-disease dynamics is central to mitigating these effects.

M.S.

Yes / Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are currently the leading cause of death worldwide. In this paper, we examine the channels through which economic growth affects NCDs’ epidemiology. Following a production function approach, we develop a basic technique to break up the impact of economic growth on NCDs into three fundamental components: (1) a resource effect; (2) a behaviour effect; and (3) a knowledge effect. We demonstrate that each of these effects can be measured as the product of two elasticities, the output and income elasticity of the three leading factors influencing the frequency of NCDs in any population: health care, healthrelated behaviours and lifestyle, and medical knowledge.

The purpose of this study has been to examine and analyze the salient medical and legal aspects related to the educational placement of children in public schools with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The study attempts to provide information that will serve as a resource to public school personnel who are among the professionals that must make informed decisions on public school attendance policies for children with a lethal, complex, and controversial disease. New developments in medicine and in the courts have crucial implications for existing policies and for the development of new policies related to the issue. By examining precedents and patterns in the emerging area of AIDS litigation and legislation, the study serves as a resource for school officials enabling them to make informed proactive decisions. The methodology used in the study was legal research. Primary and secondary sources of law were utilized. Nonlegal research materials included medical research and data that might serve as evidence in legal disputes concerning the educational placement of children with the HIV infection. In addition to medical evidence related to educational placement issues, the information gathered for the study included an examination of the state antidiscrimination disease laws, state special education laws, state communicable disease laws, and state and selected local policy statements for sixteen states; an analysis of the relevant legal issues of the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and an examination of the constitutional issues pertinent to educational placement of children with AIDS. Case law “in point” or “analogous” to the issue was presented. The concluding chapter summarizes the findings from Chapters Two, Three, Four and includes recommendations for decision-making and policy based on the medical and legal information presented. There is no medical evidence to support the exclusion of children from regular school attendance based on the suspicion of or identification of HIV infection. Awareness of sound medical evidence to support educational decision-making provides a means of projecting a solidly grounded policy to the school population and community at large. Health care precautions should be taken and routine procedures established for the removal of blood and/or body fluids in cases of accident or injury. Routine precautions should be followed by all school personnel regardless of whether an HIV-infected individual is present. / Ed. D.

A review of literature related to community-acquired Clostridium difficile- associated disease (CA-CDAD) was conducted. Information was collected from Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL) and MEDLINE-EBSCOhost databases. Clinical practice recommendations were obtained from the CDC. Studies were examined for epidemiology of infection due to C. difficile in the community and interventions to reduce transmission. Findings demonstrated a mirroring of to CA-CDAD to community-acquired Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Multiple studies found underlying gastrointestinal disorders and use of cephalosporin antibiotics to be a risk factor. Another identified risk factor was use of gastric acid suppressive drugs. Also, no particular C. difficile strain was more likely to cause recurrence. Many positive cases for CA-CDAD lacked traditional risk factors such as recent antibiotic exposure. To reduce transmission of community-acquired MRSA the CDC recommends MRSA should be considered in the differential diagnosis of soft skin tissue infections. Clinicians should also collect specimens for culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing from all patients with abscesses. The CDC recommends clinicians should teach their patients to limit transmission and ask about similar cases in household members and close contacts. Therefore, to reduce transmission of CA-COAD, Clostridium difficile- associated disease should be considered in the differential diagnosis of diarrhea. Clinicians should collect specimens for culture based on patient history & current clinical presentation for patients with diarrhea. It is important that patients be taught the proper hygiene and cleaning protocols to reduce transmission

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus, GBS) is the leading cause of neonatal infections and deaths in human. It can also cause infections in pregnant women and non-pregnant adults. Penicillin and ampicillin are antibiotics of choice for the treatment of GBS infections. Erythromycin and clindamycin are used as alternative therapy in penicillin allergic patients, however resistance to these agents has been increasingly observed. This present study was undertaken to determine the colonization rate of GBS, susceptibility profile and the mechanism of antibiotic resistance in pregnant women and their babies at Dr. George Mukhari Academic Hospital in Pretoria. METHODS: Rectal and vaginal swabs were collected from pregnant women; ear and umbilical swabs from newborns over an 11 month period. Samples were cultured on selective media (CNA agar and Todd-Hewitt broth) and GBS positively identified using morphological and biochemical tests including Gram staining, hemolytic activity, catalase test, bile esculin, CAMP test and Latex agglutination test. The susceptibility testing was done using the Kirby-Bauer and E-test methods. The D-test method was used to determine the inducible clindamycin resistance. Multiplex PCR with were used to detect different genes coding for resistance. RESULTS: Out of the 413 patients evaluated, 128 (30.9%) were positive with GBS. All isolates were sensitive to penicillin and ampicillin. Erythromycin and clindamycin resistance was 21.1% and 17.2% respectively; of which 69% harbouring constitutive MLBB, 17.4% inducible MLSB. The alteration of ribosomal target encoded by ermB genes was the commonest mechanism of resistance observed in 55% of isolates, 38% of isolates had both ermB and linB genes and efflux pump mediated by mefA genes was detected in one of isolates. Conclusion: This study reaffirms the appropriateness of penicillin as the antibiotic of choice for treating GBS infection. However it raises the challenges of resistance to the macrolides and lincosamides. More GBS treatment options for penicillin allergic patients need to be researched. / Health Studies / M.Sc. (Life Sciences (Microbiology))