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Murine typhus outbreak: Emergence of a new public health concerns in India

Singh M, Balaraman AK, Mehta R, Sah S

New Microbes New Infect, 2024 Dec;62:101514.
PMID: 39512852 DOI: 10.1016/j.nmni.2024.101514
Comment on 'Effectiveness of Horticultural Therapy in Older Patients With Dementia: A Meta-Analysis Systematic Review'

Mehta R, Balaraman AK, Sah S, Bushi G

J Clin Nurs, 2024 Nov 11.
PMID: 39528411 DOI: 10.1111/jocn.17554
Nepal's Japanese encephalitis outbreak and the urgent need for updated vaccination guidelines

Verma A, Sah S, Mehta R, Bushi G, Balaraman AK, Pandey S, et al.

New Microbes New Infect, 2024 Dec;62:101509.
PMID: 39483703 DOI: 10.1016/j.nmni.2024.101509
Leptospirosis: An insight into community structure of small mammal's host in urban environment

Mohd-Taib FS, Ishak SN, Yusof MA, Azhari NN, Md-Lasim A, Md Nor S, et al.

Trop Biomed, 2020 Mar 01;37(1):142-154.
PMID: 33612725

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira and most often acquired through contact with environments contaminated with leptospires shed in the urine of infected mammals. In urban environment, rodents are well-known as the main carriers of this bacteria, however there were no intensive study on the population structure of these animals, and how it associated with this disease. Hence, we use a case study from an outbreak in a residential area in Selangor, Malaysia, to investigate how community structure of small mammals, associated with the prevalence of Leptospira. One hundred cage traps were placed randomly in and around these houses in five phases with two months interval for a year. Community structures (species, sex, and age) were assigned for each individual, prior to screening for pathogenic Leptospira, using a partial lipL32 gene from the kidney samples. 185 small mammals from four species were captured, Rattus norvegicus (74.5%, N=138), R. rattus (20%, N=37), Tupaia glis (5%, N=9), and Suncus murinus (0.5%, N=1). From this number, 29 individuals were found PCR positive for pathogenic Leptospira (R. norvegicus, N=20; R. rattus, N=6; T. glis, N=2; S. murinus, N=1). The study shows that Leptospira occurrence in the small mammals were significantly correlated to age category and sampling phases, with Spearman Correlation (rs) p=0.02 and p=0.04 respectively. Adult individuals were significantly more prevalent with Leptospira infection, whereby March and June were found to associate with higher Leptospira prevalent among the small mammals, potentially coincide with low rainfall and relative humidity level. This information is important in designing a specific control method for rodents in Leptospira outbreak areas. In addition, intensive sampling and regular cleaning effort were found to significantly reduce the small mammal Leptospira reservoir, thus should be implemented in intervention strategies in the urban environment.
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome after COVID-19 vaccination: A systematic review

Bushi G, Gaidhane S, Ballal S, Kumar S, Bhat M, Sharma S, et al.

BMC Cardiovasc Disord, 2024 Nov 13;24(1):643.
PMID: 39538129 DOI: 10.1186/s12872-024-04315-x

BACKGROUND: The global COVID-19 vaccination campaign, with 13.53 billion doses administered by early 2024, has significantly reduced severe illness and mortality. However, potential adverse effects, such as Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), have raised concerns. This systematic review evaluates the incidence, mechanisms, and clinical implications of POTS following COVID-19 vaccination.
METHODS: A systematic search of PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science was conducted up to June 7, 2024, following PRISMA guidelines to identify studies related to COVID-19 vaccines and POTS. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, cross-sectional studies, case-control studies, case series, and case reports. Screening, data extraction, and quality assessment were independently performed by two reviewers using the Joanna Briggs Institute Checklists and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.
RESULTS: Of the 1,531 articles identified, 10 met the inclusion criteria, encompassing a total of 284,678 participants. These studies included five case reports, two case series, one cross-sectional study, one prospective observational study, and one cohort study. The cohort study reported that the odds of new POTS diagnoses post-vaccination were 1.33 (95% CI: 1.25-1.41) compared to the 90 days prior. In contrast, the post-infection odds were 2.11 (95% CI: 1.70-2.63), and the risk of POTS was 5.35 times higher (95% CI: 5.05-5.68) post-infection compared to post-vaccination. Diagnostic findings across studies included elevated norepinephrine levels and reduced heart rate variability. Reported management strategies involved ivabradine, intravenous therapies, and lifestyle modifications.
CONCLUSION: The risk of POTS following COVID-19 vaccination is lower than that observed post-SARS-CoV-2 infection; however, existing studies are limited by small sample sizes and methodological variability. Further research is needed to clarify the incidence, mechanisms, and long-term outcomes of vaccine-related POTS to inform effective clinical management strategies.
Implementing social network analysis to understand the socioecology of wildlife co-occurrence and joint interactions with humans in anthropogenic environments

Balasubramaniam KN, Kaburu SSK, Marty PR, Beisner BA, Bliss-Moreau E, Arlet ME, et al.

J Anim Ecol, 2021 12;90(12):2819-2833.
PMID: 34453852 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13584

Human population expansion into wildlife habitats has increased interest in the behavioural ecology of human-wildlife interactions. To date, however, the socioecological factors that determine whether, when or where wild animals take risks by interacting with humans and anthropogenic factors still remains unclear. We adopt a comparative approach to address this gap, using social network analysis (SNA). SNA, increasingly implemented to determine human impact on wildlife ecology, can be a powerful tool to understand how animal socioecology influences the spatiotemporal distribution of human-wildlife interactions. For 10 groups of rhesus, long-tailed and bonnet macaques (Macaca spp.) living in anthropogenically impacted environments in Asia, we collected data on human-macaque interactions, animal demographics, and macaque-macaque agonistic and affiliative social interactions. We constructed 'human co-interaction networks' based on associations between macaques that interacted with humans within the same time and spatial locations, and social networks based on macaque-macaque allogrooming behaviour, affiliative behaviours of short duration (agonistic support, lip-smacking, silent bare-teeth displays and non-sexual mounting) and proximity. Pre-network permutation tests revealed that, within all macaque groups, specific individuals jointly took risks by repeatedly, consistently co-interacting with humans within and across time and space. GLMMs revealed that macaques' tendencies to co-interact with humans was positively predicted by their tendencies to engage in short-duration affiliative interactions and tolerance of conspecifics, although the latter varied across species (bonnets>rhesus>long-tailed). Male macaques were more likely to co-interact with humans than females. Neither macaques' grooming relationships nor their dominance ranks predicted their tendencies to co-interact with humans. Our findings suggest that, in challenging anthropogenic environments, less (compared to more) time-consuming forms of affiliation, and additionally greater social tolerance in less ecologically flexible species with a shorter history of exposure to humans, may be key to animals' joint propensities to take risks to gain access to resources. For males, greater exploratory tendencies and less energetically demanding long-term life-history strategies (compared to females) may also influence such joint risk-taking. From conservation and public health perspectives, wildlife connectedness within such co-interaction networks may inform interventions to mitigate zoonosis, and move human-wildlife interactions from conflict towards coexistence.
Fulltext Knowledge of mpox and its determinants among the healthcare personnel in Arabic regions: A multi-country cross-sectional study

Swed S, Bohsas H, Patwary MM, Alibrahim H, Rakab A, Nashwan AJ, et al.

New Microbes New Infect, 2023 Sep;54:101146.
PMID: 37363720 DOI: 10.1016/j.nmni.2023.101146

BACKGROUND & AIM: The monkeypox virus (MPXV), an Orthopoxvirus family member, is the zoonotic agent that causes mpox (formerly known as monkeypox). The ongoing mpox pandemic has caused cases across continents involving 110 countries. This study aimed to assess mpox knowledge and its determinants among healthcare personnel.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from June 6 to June 25, 2022, among 17 Arab countries. The self-administered questionnaire consists of 53 questions assessing the knowledge about the monkeypox virus.
RESULTS: In total, 5874 medical students and clinical doctors from 17 Arab countries participated in this study. Only 13.8% (n = 812) of respondents have ever received information about mpox during their studies in medicine. The mean knowledge score was 13.84, and the median score was 15 (range 1-34). More than half (51.3%, n = 3012) have heard about mpox before. A low proportion of the participants had a good level of knowledge on mpox. Only 11.7% of respondents had correctly identified the natural host and the incubation period of mpox. More than half (58.9%) were aware of the signs and symptoms of mpox. Few respondents (28%) believed that mpox and smallpox have similar signs and symptoms. Specialist doctors had higher knowledge of mpox (AOR = 2.96, 95% CI = 2.24-3.92, p