Displaying publications 41 - 60 of 684 in total

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  1. Genome Sequences of Brucella melitensis, Isolated from Blood Samples of Brucellosis Patients in Malaysia
    Mohamed Zahidi J, Ahmad N, Tay BY, Hashim R, Khoo E, Ahmad N, et al.
    Genome Announc, 2017 Aug 03;5(31).
    PMID: 28774972 DOI: 10.1128/genomeA.00689-17
    Human brucellosis is a neglected zoonotic disease and has widespread geographical distribution. Brucella melitensis has caused outbreaks and sporadic cases in Malaysia. Here, we present the whole-genome sequences of four B. melitensis strains isolated from brucellosis patients in Malaysia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  2. Human monkeypox outbreak in 2022
    Kumar S, Subramaniam G, Karuppanan K
    J Med Virol, 2023 Jan;95(1):e27894.
    PMID: 35637363 DOI: 10.1002/jmv.27894
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  3. [Evidence based guidelines. Diagnosis and management of Guillain-Barré syndrome in ten steps]
    Leonhard SE, Mandarakas MR, de Assis Aquino Gondim F, Bateman K, Brito Ferreira ML, Cornblath DR, et al.
    Medicina (B Aires), 2021;81(5):817-836.
    PMID: 34633957
    Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rare, but potentially fatal, immune-mediated disease of the peripheral nerves and nerve roots that is usually triggered by infections. The incidence of GBS can therefore increase during outbreaks of infectious diseases, as was seen during the Zika virus epidemics in 2013 in French Polynesia and in 2015 in Latin America. Diagnosis and management of GBS can be complicated as its clinical presentation and disease course are heterogeneous, and no international clinical guidelines are currently available. To support clinicians, especially in the context of an outbreak, we have developed a globally applicable guideline for the diagnosis and management of GBS. The guideline is based on current literature and expert consensus, and has a ten-step structure to facilitate its use in clinical practice. We first provide an introduction to the diagnostic criteria, clinical variants and differential diagnoses of GBS. The ten steps then cover early recognition and diagnosis of GBS, admission to the intensive care unit, treatment indication and selection, monitoring and treatment of disease progression, prediction of clinical course and outcome, and management of complications and sequelae.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  4. Performance of the World Health Organisation suspected COVID-19 case definition in cluster-associated and sporadic SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Malaysia
    Kho SS, Aziz AA, Sia TLL, Ramarmuty HY, Sirol Aflah SS, Mohamed Gani Y, et al.
    Med J Malaysia, 2023 May;78(3):279-286.
    PMID: 37271836
    INTRODUCTION: Cluster-associated transmission has contributed to the majority of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia. Although widely used, the performance of the World Health Organization (WHO) case definition for suspected COVID19 in environments with high numbers of such cases has not been reported.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: All suspected cases of COVID-19 that self-presented to hospitals or were cluster screened from 1st April to 31st May 2020 were included. Positive SARS-CoV-2 rRT-PCR was used as the diagnostic reference for COVID-19.

    RESULTS: 540 individuals with suspected COVID-19 were recruited. Two-third of patients were identified through contact screening, while the rest presented sporadically. Overall COVID-19 positivity rate was 59.4% (321/540) which was higher in the cluster screened group (85.6% vs. 11.6%, p<0.001). Overall, cluster-screened COVID-19 cases were significantly younger, had fewer comorbidities and were less likely to be symptomatic than those present sporadically. Mortality was significantly lower in the cluster-screened COVID-19 cases (0.3% vs. 4.5%, p<0.05). A third of all chest radiographs in confirmed COVID-19 cases were abnormal, with consolidation, ground-glass opacities or both predominating in the peripheral lower zones. The WHO suspected case definition for COVID-19 accurately classified 35.4% of all COVID-19 patients, a rate not improved by the addition of baseline radiographic data. Misclassification rate was higher among the cluster-associated cases (80.6%) compared to sporadic cases (35.3%).

    CONCLUSION: COVID-19 cases in Malaysia identified by active tracing of community cluster outbreaks had lower mortality rate. The WHO suspected COVID-19 performed poorly in this setting even when chest radiographic information was available, a finding that has implications for future spikes of the disease in countries with similar transmission characteristics.

    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  5. Fulltext Monkeypox Virus and Other Emerging Outbreaks: An Overview and Future Perspective
    Hamdana AH, Mohsin H, Habib Tharwani Z, Masood W, Furqana AQ, Sohail A, et al.
    Inquiry, 2023;60:469580231175437.
    PMID: 37190997 DOI: 10.1177/00469580231175437
    Monkeypox (MPX) is a zoonotic disease caused by the MPX virus from the poxviridae family of orthopoxviruses. Typically, endemic in central and west Africa, it has now become a matter of concern since cases have been reported in non-endemic countries around mid-June 2022, especially in the European region, with the transmission not related to travel. The diagnosis is made by PCR testing of the skin lesions. Even though treatment is symptomatic, antiretrovirals, such as tecovirimat, are used in severe cases. Vaccination with second and third generation vaccines is approved for prophylaxis in high risk individuals. Unfortunately, these options of treatment and prevention are only available in high income countries at the moment. This review, through a thorough literature search of articles from 2017 onward, focuses on epidemiology, clinical manifestations, challenges, treatment, prevention and control of MPX virus and how they can be corelated with other viral outbreaks including COVID-19, Acute Hepatitis of unknown origin, Measles and Dengue, to better predict and therefore prevent its transmission. The previous COVID-19 pandemic increased the disease burden on healthcare infrastructure of low-middle income countries, therefore, this recent MPX outbreak calls for a joint effort from healthcare authorities, political figures, and NGOs to combat the disease and prevent its further spread not only in high income but also in middle- and low-income countries.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  6. Fulltext Impact of food safety supervision efficiency on preventing and controlling mass public crisis
    Ding J, Qiao P, Wang J, Huang H
    Front Public Health, 2022;10:1052273.
    PMID: 36544788 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1052273
    Food safety has received unprecedented attention since the COVID-19 outbreak. Exploring food safety regulatory mechanisms in the context of cluster public crises is critical for COVID-19 prevention and control. As a result, using data from a food safety regulation survey in the Bei-jing-Tianjin-Hebei urban cluster, this paper investigates the impact of food safety regulation on the prevention and control of COVID-19. The study found that food safety regulation and cluster public crisis prevention and control have a significant positive relationship, with the ability to integrate regulatory resources acting as a mediator between the two. Second, industry groups argue that the relationship between regulatory efficiency and regulatory resource integration should be moderated in a positive manner. Finally, industry association support positively moderates the mediating role of regulatory re-source integration capacity between food safety regulatory efficiency and cluster public crises, and there is a mediating effect of being moderated. Our findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying the roles of regulatory efficiency, resource integration capacity, and industry association support in food safety, and they serve as a useful benchmark for further improving food safety regulations during the COVID-19 outbreak.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  7. A Revised Diagnostic Quantitative RT-PCR for the Detection of Nipah Virus Infection
    Patel K, Klena J, Lo MK
    Methods Mol Biol, 2023;2682:25-31.
    PMID: 37610571 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3283-3_2
    From its discovery in Malaysia in the late 1990s, the spillover of the Nipah virus from its pteropid reservoir into the human population has resulted in sporadic outbreaks of fatal encephalitis and respiratory disease. In this chapter, we revise a previously described quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction method, which now utilizes degenerate nucleotides at certain positions in the probe and the reverse primer to accommodate the sequence heterogeneity observed within the Nipah henipavirus species.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  8. Description of the COVID-19 epidemiology in Malaysia
    Md Nadzri MN, Md Zamri ASS, Singh S, Sumarni MG, Lai CH, Tan CV, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2024;12:1289622.
    PMID: 38544725 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1289622
    INTRODUCTION: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, it has spread rapidly across the world and has resulted in recurrent outbreaks. This study aims to describe the COVID-19 epidemiology in terms of COVID-19 cases, deaths, ICU admissions, ventilator requirements, testing, incidence rate, death rate, case fatality rate (CFR) and test positivity rate for each outbreak from the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 till endemicity of COVID-19 in 2022 in Malaysia.

    METHODS: Data was sourced from the GitHub repository and the Ministry of Health's official COVID-19 website. The study period was from the beginning of the outbreak in Malaysia, which began during Epidemiological Week (Ep Wk) 4 in 2020, to the last Ep Wk 18 in 2022. Data were aggregated by Ep Wk and analyzed in terms of COVID-19 cases, deaths, ICU admissions, ventilator requirements, testing, incidence rate, death rate, case fatality rate (CFR) and test positivity rate by years (2020 and 2022) and for each outbreak of COVID-19.

    RESULTS: A total of 4,456,736 cases, 35,579 deaths and 58,906,954 COVID-19 tests were reported for the period from 2020 to 2022. The COVID-19 incidence rate, death rate, CFR and test positivity rate were reported at 1.085 and 0.009 per 1,000 populations, 0.80 and 7.57%, respectively, for the period from 2020 to 2022. Higher cases, deaths, testing, incidence/death rate, CFR and test positivity rates were reported in 2021 and during the Delta outbreak. This is evident by the highest number of COVID-19 cases, ICU admissions, ventilatory requirements and deaths observed during the Delta outbreak.

    CONCLUSION: The Delta outbreak was the most severe compared to other outbreaks in Malaysia's study period. In addition, this study provides evidence that outbreaks of COVID-19, which are caused by highly virulent and transmissible variants, tend to be more severe and devastating if these outbreaks are not controlled early on. Therefore, close monitoring of key epidemiological indicators, as reported in this study, is essential in the control and management of future COVID-19 outbreaks in Malaysia.

    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  9. Fulltext Zika - A Pandemic in Progress?
    Mohamad Idris F
    Malays J Med Sci, 2016 Mar;23(2):70-2.
    PMID: 27547117
    The emerging threat of Zika virus outbreak with associated neurological abnormalities needs to be assessed in perspective in terms of its ability to cause a pandemic. This article attempts to throw some light on the issue.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  10. Fulltext Fungal genotyping - current clinical application
    Harun A
    Malays J Med Sci, 2014 Nov-Dec;21(6):1-2.
    PMID: 25897275
    The emergence of fungal species as opportunistic pathogens has warranted further studies on their pathogenicity, epidemiology, and transmissibility. Fungal genotyping has been employed to study the genetic relatedness within the organism, in order to obtain answers to epidemiological questions (such as in outbreak confirmation) as well as to provide basis for the improvement for patients care. Various fungal genotyping methods have been previously published, which can be chosen depending on the intended use and the capability of individual laboratory.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks
  11. Fulltext Infectious diseases and their outbreaks in Asia-Pacific: biodiversity and its regulation loss matter
    Morand S, Jittapalapong S, Suputtamongkol Y, Abdullah MT, Huan TB
    PLoS One, 2014;9(2):e90032.
    PMID: 24587201 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090032
    Despite increasing control measures, numerous parasitic and infectious diseases are emerging, re-emerging or causing recurrent outbreaks particularly in Asia and the Pacific region, a hot spot of both infectious disease emergence and biodiversity at risk. We investigate how biodiversity affects the distribution of infectious diseases and their outbreaks in this region, taking into account socio-economics (population size, GDP, public health expenditure), geography (latitude and nation size), climate (precipitation, temperature) and biodiversity (bird and mammal species richness, forest cover, mammal and bird species at threat). We show, among countries, that the overall richness of infectious diseases is positively correlated with the richness of birds and mammals, but the number of zoonotic disease outbreaks is positively correlated with the number of threatened mammal and bird species and the number of vector-borne disease outbreaks is negatively correlated with forest cover. These results suggest that, among countries, biodiversity is a source of pathogens, but also that the loss of biodiversity or its regulation, as measured by forest cover or threatened species, seems to be associated with an increase in zoonotic and vector-borne disease outbreaks.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks*
  12. Fulltext Risk factors for typhoid outbreak in Sungai Congkak Recreational Park, Selangor 2009
    Suleiman A, Amir KM, Fadzilah K, Ahamad J, Noorhaida U, Marina K, et al.
    Med J Malaysia, 2012 Feb;67(1):12-6.
    PMID: 22582542 MyJurnal
    Typhoid fever continues to pose public health problems in Selangor where cases are found sporadically with occasional outbreaks reported. In February 2009, Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR) reported a cluster of typhoid fever among four children in the pediatric ward. We investigated the source of the outbreak, risk factors for the infection to propose control measures. We conducted a case-control study to identify the risk factors for the outbreak. A case was defined as a person with S. typhi isolated from blood, urine or stool and had visited Sungai Congkak recreational park on 27th January 2010. Controls were healthy household members of cases who have similar exposure but no isolation of S. typhi in blood, urine or stool. Cases were identified from routine surveillance system, medical record searching from the nearest clinic and contact tracing other than family members including food handlers and construction workers in the recreational park. Immediate control measures were initiated and followed up. Twelve (12) cases were identified from routine surveillance with 75 household controls. The Case-control study showed cases were 17 times more likely to be 12 years or younger (95% CI: 2.10, 137.86) and 13 times more likely to have ingested river water accidentally during swimming (95% CI: 3.07, 58.71). River water was found contaminated with sewage disposal from two public toilets which effluent grew salmonella spp. The typhoid outbreak in Sungai Congkak recreational park resulted from contaminated river water due to poor sanitation. Children who accidentally ingested river water were highly susceptible. Immediate closure and upgrading of public toilet has stopped the outbreak.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks*
  13. Recent progress in henipavirus research
    Halpin K, Mungall BA
    Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis, 2007 Sep;30(5-6):287-307.
    PMID: 17629946
    Following the discovery of two new paramyxoviruses in the 1990s, much effort has been placed on rapidly finding the reservoir hosts, characterising the genomes, identifying the viral receptors and formulating potential vaccines and therapeutic options for these viruses, Hendra and Nipah viruses caused zoonotic disease on a scale not seen before with other paramyxoviruses. Nipah virus particularly caused high morbidity and mortality in humans and high morbidity in pig populations in the first outbreak in Malaysia. Both viruses continue to pose a threat with sporadic outbreaks continuing into the 21st century. Experimental and surveillance studies identified that pteropus bats are the reservoir hosts. Research continues in an attempt to understand events that precipitated spillover of these viruses. Discovered on the cusp of the molecular technology revolution, much progress has been made in understanding these new viruses. This review endeavours to capture the depth and breadth of these recent advances.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks*
  14. [Chikungunya, La Réunion and Mayotte, 2005-2006: an epidemic without a story?]
    Flahault A, Aumont G, Boisson V, de Lamballerile X, Favier F, Fontenille D, et al.
    Sante Publique, 2007 May-Jun;19 Suppl 3:S165-95.
    PMID: 17929405
    Many triggering factors for onset of emerging infectious diseases are now recognised, such as: globalisation, demographic increase, population movements, international trade, urbanisation, forest destruction, climate changes, loss in biodiversity, and extreme life conditions such as poverty, famine and war. Epidemic burden is often leading to disasters, in terms of human losses, as well as economic, political or social consequences. These outbreaks may jeopardize within a few weeks or months, industry, trade, or tourism. While dengue and its most severe forms (hemorrhagic and shock syndrome) is spreading all over the tropical world, another arbovirosis, chikungunya disease dramatically spread in Indian Ocean islands where 30 to 75% of population were infected in 2005 and 2006, and then extended its progression towards India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives islands with more than a million people infected with the East-African strain, replacing the former Asian strain which was known to prevail more than 30 years ago in India. Patients experience sequelae with disability, work loss, and rarely severe outcome recently identified in La Réunion and Mayotte (French overseas territories). No country, no part of the world may consider itself as protected against such events. However, consequences of emerging or re-emerging diseases are more and more unacceptable when they impact the poorest countries of the world. Viruses, bacteria, as well as wild animals, birds, or arthropods are not stopped by borders. It is time now to promote barriers against infectious diseases, including prevention, anticipation, disease surveillance and research. This is not only for humanitarian reasons, but also for contributing to a sustainable development with equity for worldwide population. This report presents comprehensive actions taken in 2006 for tracing the epidemic and mobilise research, as requested to the task force set up by the Prime Minister by March 20, 2006.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks*
  15. Fulltext Outbreak of influenza amongst residential school students in Malaysia
    Ayob A, Selviendran N, Hampson AW, Barr IG, Kumarasamy V, Chua KB
    Med J Malaysia, 2006 Jun;61(2):168-72.
    PMID: 16898307 MyJurnal
    In the months of July and August 2003, an outbreak of acute respiratory illness caused by influenza A virus occurred among students in seven residential schools situated in the northern part (Perak) of Peninsular Malaysia. Out of 4989 students, aged 13 to 18 years (mean = 15.9), 1419 (28%) were effected by influenza-like illness. All patients were treated as outpatients except for 36 students who required admission for high fever, severe coughing and shortness of breath. Abnormal chest X-ray findings were noted for those that required inpatient management. Influenza A virus was isolated from 37 sputum specimens, 20 throat swabs and three nasal swab specimens from a total of 278 clinical samples obtained from 180 patients. Isolates from each of the outbreaks were sent to WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Melbourne, Australia for antigenic and genetic analysis. One school outbreak was due to influenza A (H1N1), A/New Caledonia/20/99-like virus while the other six school outbreaks were due to influenza A (H3N2) viruses which were A/Fujian/411/2002-like).
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks*
  16. Fulltext Diabetes epidemic in Malaysia
    Mustaffa BE
    Med J Malaysia, 2004 Aug;59(3):295-6.
    PMID: 15727372 MyJurnal
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks*
  17. Fulltext Taking stock of two decades of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Malaysia
    Kamarulzaman A
    Med J Malaysia, 2005 Mar;60(1):1-4.
    PMID: 16250272
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks*
  18. Fulltext An epidemiological investigation of an outbreak of leptospirosis associated with swimming, Beaufort, Sabah
    Koay TK, Nirmal S, Noitie L, Tan E
    Med J Malaysia, 2004 Oct;59(4):455-9.
    PMID: 15779577
    From October 13 to October 21, 1999, a total of 46 males, aged 8 to 19 years, were admitted to Beaufort Hospital after swimming in the creek near an oil palm plantation in Kampung (Kg) Kebatu, Beaufort. Thirty (30) presented with symptoms including fever, vomiting, bodyache, giddiness, headache, chest pain and cough, while 16 others, were asymptomatic. One, a 15 year old boy, died from haemorrhagic shock secondary to pulmonary haemorrhage. The onset of the illness was from 11 October to 19 October 1999. A case-control study found that the outbreak was associated with swimming in the creek (p<0.0001). A total of 44 paired sera samples were sent for microscopic agglutination test (MAT), 5 pairs showed sero-conversion, 3 pairs had 4 fold rise in titre and 18 pairs were positive at >320. The findings indicated that Leptospirosis was the cause of the outbreak of this illness and the contaminated creek water was the source of the infection. The occurrence of flooding and stagnation in the creek following the heavy rainfall during the first week of October 1999 could have contributed to the timing of the outbreak.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks*
  19. Fulltext 2013 dengue outbreaks in Singapore and Malaysia caused by different viral strains
    Ng LC, Chem YK, Koo C, Mudin RNB, Amin FM, Lee KS, et al.
    Am J Trop Med Hyg, 2015 Jun;92(6):1150-1155.
    PMID: 25846296 DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.14-0588
    Characterization of 14,079 circulating dengue viruses in a cross-border surveillance program, UNITEDengue, revealed that the 2013 outbreaks in Singapore and Malaysia were associated with replacement of predominant serotype. While the predominant virus in Singapore switched from DENV2 to DENV1, DENV2 became predominant in neighboring Malaysia. Dominance of DENV2 was most evident on the southern states where higher fatality rates were observed.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks*
  20. Progress in public health in the Year of the Goat
    Binns C, Low WY
    Asia Pac J Public Health, 2015 Mar;27(2):121-2.
    PMID: 25834268 DOI: 10.1177/1010539515576167
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Outbreaks/prevention & control
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