Multilocus sequence typing and the evolution of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Joseph E. McDade Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) continue to adapt to the selective pressure of antimicrobial agents and to exploit new niches, as evidenced by the recent isolation of strains with high-level vaneomycin resistance and the emergence of MRSA as a community pathogen. The combined […]
Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Hepatitis B in women: domestically and internationally. Cindy Weinbaum Globally, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major cause of infectious disease-related death, causing approximately 620,000 deaths annually. Without hepatitis B vaccination, an estimated 1.4 million HBV-related deaths would occur in the 2000 birth cohort over the lifetime of the cohort. HBV infections acquired in […]
Cost of illness in the 1993 waterborne cryptosporidium outbreak, Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Research Phaedra S. Corso To assess the total medical costs and productivity losses associated with the 1993 waterborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, including the average cost per person with mild, moderate, and severe illness, we conducted a retrospective cost-of-illness analysis using […]
Emerging trends in international law concerning global infectious disease control – 1 – Perspective David P. Fidler International cooperation has become critical in controlling infectious diseases. In this article, I examine emerging trends in international law concerning global infectious disease control. The role of international law in horizontal and vertical governance responses to infectious disease […]
Detecting West Nile virus in owls and raptors by an antigen-capture assay Ady Y. Gancz We evaluated a rapid antigen-capture assay (VecTest) for detection of West Nile virus in oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs, collected at necropsy from owls (N = 93) and raptors (N = 27). Sensitivity was 93.5%-95.2% for northern owl species but 90% […]
Global illness and deaths caused by rotavirus disease in children – Research Umesh D. Parashar To estimate the global illness and deaths caused by rotavirus disease, we reviewed studies published from 1986 to 2000 on deaths caused by diarrhea and on rotavirus infections in children. We assessed rotavirus-associated illness in three clinical settings (mild cases […]
Erratum vol. 8, no. 1 – Statistical Data Included In the article, “A Large Outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease at a Flower Show, the Netherlands,” by Jeroen W. Den Boer et al., errors appear in two figures and their legends. In Figure 3, part 3a should be identified as IgM and part 3b as IgG. The […]
Molecular typing of IberoAmerican Cryptococcus neoformans isolates – Research Wieland Meyer A network was established to acquire basic knowledge of Cryptococcus neoformans in IberoAmerican countries. To this effect, 340 clinical, veterinary, and environmental isolates from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Guatemala, and Spain were typed by using M13 polymerase chain reaction-fingerprinting and orotidine […]
Severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus infection – Dispatches Paul K.S. Chan Whether severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection can be asymptomatic is unclear. We examined the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV among 674 healthcare workers from a hospital in which a SARS outbreak had occurred. A total of 353 (52%) experienced mild self-limiting illnesses, and 321 […]
Wresting SARS from uncertainty – Commentary Jairam R. Lingappa In early March 2003, Carlo Urbani, a World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist stationed in Vietnam, alerted the global health community to the high transmissibility and lethality associated with an apparently new respiratory disease. This disease, now called severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), is believed to have […]