PLoS Currents

INTRODUCTION: Between August and November 2017, Madagascar reported nearly 2500 cases of plague; the vast majority of these cases were pneumonic, resulting in early exponential growth due to person-to-person transmission. Though plague is endemic in Madagascar, cases are usually bubonic and thus result in considerably smaller annual caseloads than those observed from August-November 2017. METHODS: In this study, we consider the transmission dynamics of pneumonic plague in Madagascar during this time period, as well as the role of control strategies that were deployed to curb the outbreak and their effectiveness...

BACKGROUND: In 1997, the pursuit of greater accountability and effectiveness in humanitarian response prompted a multi-stakeholder collaboration to develop a set of indicators and standards to guide humanitarian practitioners, published later in the form of the Sphere Handbook. Twenty years after the first edition of the Handbook was developed, and in order to guide the 2018 revision, an assessment of the evidence base for current Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Food Security and Nutrition, and Health Action indicators, as compared to evidence collated by the 2015 LSHTM Humanitarian Health Evidence Review (HHER), was conducted...

INTRODUCTION: Uganda remains seismically vulnerable to earthquakes, which constitute one of the most deadly naturally triggered disasters in the world. This is not surprising given the country's location in the East African Rift Valley System. METHOD: This paper draws mainly on the authors' live event experience and some media reports to narratively outline the nature of a sizable earthquake, which measured a magnitude of 5.7 on the Richter scale that struck Uganda and other countries within the Lake Victoria Basin region on 10th September 2016 in the afternoon...

Introduction: The objective of this study was to understand and assess the perception of communities, organized civil society, health professionals, and decision-makers of several governmental institutions, regarding vulnerabilities and health impacts in drought prone municipalities of Brazil. Methods: This study was carried out through a qualitative investigation in eight municipalities in the Brazilian Semiarid region. Data collection was done through semi-structure and structure interviews, and discussion with local actors, which included communities groups, health professionals, governmental managers and organized civil society...

INTRODUCTION: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common X-linked neuromuscular condition manifested by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, cardiopulmonary involvement and cognitive deficits. Neurodevelopmental symptoms and signs are under-appreciated in this population despite the recognition that cognition has a major impact on quality-of-life. We describe the neurodevelopmental needs in a large cohort of young boys with DMD from the DMD Natural History Study (DNHS). We explore the association between neurodevelopmental needs and DMD mutation location, and with glucocorticoid use...

BACKGROUND: Japan experienced a multi-generation outbreak of measles from March to May, 2018. The present study aimed to capture the transmission dynamics of measles by employing a simple mathematical model, and also forecast the future incidence of cases. METHODS: Epidemiological data that consist of the date of illness onset and the date of laboratory confirmation were analysed. A functional model that captures the generation-dependent growth patterns of cases was employed, while accounting for the time delay from illness onset to diagnosis...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Heavy rain hit Sudan in August 2013 with subsequent flash floods in different parts of the country. This study investigated the impact of the flooding on incidence of malaria in Almanagil Locality in central Sudan. METHODS: This observational retrospective study compared malaria data sets during rainfall seasons in the Almanagil Locality in the year of flooding (2013) with those of corresponding rainfall seasons of previous two non-flood years (2011 and 2012)...

INTRODUCTION: Disasters with substantial impacts to the health care and public health systems can have multiple reverberating effects, including the need to alter the medical standard of care as well as centrally control scarce medical resources. A current crisis care plan can help to establish an ethical and operational framework for stakeholders before such a disaster takes place. However, there are few examples of such a plan that cover large areas and health jurisdictions. This article describes the process of developing such a "Crisis Care Plan...

Introduction: In South East Asia, mosquito-borne viruses (MBVs) have long been a cause of high disease burden and significant economic costs. While in some SEA countries the epidemiology of MBVs is spatio-temporally well characterised and understood, in others such as Myanmar our understanding is largely incomplete. Materials and Methods: Here, we use a simple mathematical approach to estimate a climate-driven suitability index aiming to better characterise the intrinsic, spatio-temporal potential of MBVs in Myanmar...

INTRODUCTION: Despite efforts to increase earthquake preparedness (EP), the level of earthquake preparedness in Tehran is low, even when people acknowledge the risk they face. This problem has its roots in the beliefs of Tehran inhabitants about EP. This study is aimed to elicit the salient beliefs about earthquake preparedness among Tehran citizens. METHOD: This is a deductive content analysis research. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) has been applied as the theoretical framework of the study...

Introduction: In India quite a few religious festivals and cultural fairs are accompanied by public display of fireworks. The grandeur of the festivals is often evaluated by the common man with respect to its colorful firework displays. Firecracker accidents during mass fireworks at public display venues may be disastrous in its consequences and damages. A fire cracker disaster which occurred during a religious public firework display event at Puttingal in Kerala, India was documented and analyzed to figure out the safety concerns and good practices, towards making a reference for effective emergency management...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the eastern coast of the United States on October 29, 2012 resulting in 117 deaths and 71.4 billion dollars in damage. Persons with undiagnosed HIV infection might experience delays in diagnosis testing, status confirmation, or access to care due to service disruption in storm-affected areas. The objective of this study is to describe the impact of Hurricane Sandy on HIV testing rates in affected areas and estimate the magnitude and duration of disruption in HIV testing associated with storm damage intensity...

INTRODUCTION: Determining the potential risk of foodborne illness has become critical for informing policy decisions, due to the increasing availability and popularity of unpasteurized (raw) milk. METHODS: Trends in foodborne illnesses reported to the Centers for Disease Control in the United States from 2005 to 2016 were analyzed, with comparison to state legal status and to consumption, as estimated by licensing records. RESULTS: The rate of unpasteurized milk-associated outbreaks has been declining since 2010, despite increasing legal distribution...

 Neurofilament light proteins (NFL) are a structural element of the neuronal cytoskeleton and are released with neuronal damage. Its levels are increased in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the setting of neurodegenerative diseases. We investigated the CSF-NFL levels of Huntington´s disease (HD) patients (participating in a clinical trial SAT-HD) as well as of premanifest carriers and compared their results with a sample of healthy controls and correlated CSF-NFL levels with demographic and clinical variables (baseline demographic characteristics and HD measures of disease severity)...

INTRODUCTION: Fire hazards are an extreme risk to occupants of high-rise buildings. Little attention has been paid to emergency and evacuation preparedness among people living in high-rise buildings. This paper reports on emergency fire preparedness among residents of a high-rise building that has experienced multiple fires in the past. METHODS: An exploratory qualitative pilot study was conducted using key informant interviews. Six residents participated. Themes on preparedness for fires and emergency evacuation were extracted...

INTRODUCTION: Health-related disaster research is a relatively small; but growing field of inquiry.  A better understanding of the scope and scale of health-related disaster research that has occurred in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) would be useful to funders, researchers, humanitarian aid organizations, and governments as they strive to identify gaps, disparities, trends, and needs of populations affected by disasters. METHODOLOGY: We performed a scoping review using the process outlined by Arksey & O'Malley to assess the characteristics of peer-reviewed publications of empirical health-related disaster research conducted in LMICs and published in the years 2003-2012...

INTRODUCTION: The 2013-2015 outbreak of Ebola was by far the largest to date, affecting Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and secondarily, Nigeria, Senegal and the United States. Such an event raises questions about the circulation of health information across social networks. This article presents an analysis of tweets concerning a specific theme: the sexual transmission of the virus by survivors, at a time when there was a great uncertainty about the duration and even the possibility of such transmission...

Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are being considered as non-invasive biomarkers for disease progression and clinical trials. Congenital muscular dystrophy with deficiency of laminin α2 chain (LAMA2-CMD) is a very severe form of muscular dystrophy, for which no treatment is available. In order to identify LAMA2-CMD biomarkers we have profiled miRNAs in urine from the dy2J / dy2J mouse model of LAMA2-CMD at three distinct time points (representing asymptomatic, initial and established disease). We demonstrate that unique groups of miRNAs are differentially expressed at each time point...