During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have been forced to implement mobility restrictions to slow down the spread of SARS-CoV-2. These restrictions have also played a significant role in controlling the spread of other diseases, including those that do not require direct contact between individuals for transmission, such as dengue. In this study, we investigate the impact of human mobility on the dynamics of dengue transmission in a large metropolis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo
August 2024
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to everyday life and has had social, political, and financial consequences that will persist for years. Several initiatives with intensive use of technology were quickly developed in this scenario. However, technologies that enhance epidemiological surveillance in contexts with low testing capacity and healthcare resources are scarce.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although CoronaVac was the only Covid-19 vaccine adopted in the first months of the Brazilian vaccination campaign, randomized clinical trials to evaluate its efficacy in elderly adults were limited. In this study, we use routinely collected surveillance and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and testing data comprising the population of the fifth largest city of Brazil to evaluate the effectiveness of CoronaVac in adults 60+ years old against severe outcomes.
Methods: Using large observational databases on vaccination and surveillance data from the city of Fortaleza, Brazil, we defined a retrospective cohort including 324,302 eligible adults aged ≥60 years to evaluate the effectiveness of the CoronaVac vaccine.
Human mobility plays a key role in the dissemination of infectious diseases around the world. However, the complexity introduced by commuting patterns in the daily life of cities makes such a role unclear, especially at the intracity scale. Here, we propose a multiplex network fed with 9 months of mobility data with more than 107 million public bus validations in order to understand the relation between urban mobility and the spreading of COVID-19 within a large city, namely, Fortaleza in the northeast of Brazil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMJ Open
June 2022
Purpose: Maternal and child health and parenting practices during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ceará (Iracema-COVID) is a longitudinal, prospective population-based birth cohort designed to understand the effects of the pandemic and social withdrawal in maternal mental health, child development and parenting practices of mothers and families.
Participants: A sample of mothers who gave birth in July and August 2020 (n=351) was enrolled in the study in January 2021. Interviews were conducted by telephone.
The spread of COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has become a worldwide problem with devastating consequences. Here, we implement a comprehensive contact tracing and network analysis to find an optimized quarantine protocol to dismantle the chain of transmission of coronavirus with minimal disruptions to society. We track billions of anonymized GPS human mobility datapoints to monitor the evolution of the contact network of disease transmission before and after mass quarantines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We used surveillance data from Brazil and Colombia during 2007-2017 to assess the presence of socioeconomic inequalities on dengue, chikungunya and Zika at the neighborhood level in two Latin American cities.
Methods: To quantify the inequality, we estimated and decomposed the relative concentration index of inequality (RCI) accounting for the spatiotemporal distribution of the diseases.
Results: There were 281 426 arboviral cases notified in Fortaleza, Brazil, and 40 889 in Medellin, Colombia.
Objective: To assess the presence, pattern and magnitude of socioeconomic inequalities on dengue, chikungunya and Zika in Latin America, accounting for their spatiotemporal distribution.
Methods: Using longitudinal surveillance data (reported arboviruses) from Fortaleza, Brazil and Medellin, Colombia (2007-2017), we fit Bayesian hierarchical models with structured random effects to estimate: (i) spatiotemporally adjusted incidence rates; (ii) Relative Concentration Index and Absolute Concentration Index of inequality; (iii) temporal trends in RCIs; and (iv) socioeconomic-specific estimates of disease distribution. The spatial analysis was conducted at the neighbourhood level (urban settings).
Dengue is a vector-borne disease transmitted by the genus mosquito. It causes financial burdens on public health systems and considerable morbidity and mortality. Tropical regions in the Americas and Asia are the areas most affected by the virus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mosquito-borne viruses dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV), and chikungunya (CHIKV), now co-endemic in the Americas, pose growing threats to health worldwide. However, it remains unclear whether there exist interactions between these viruses that could shape their epidemiology. This study advances knowledge by assessing the transmission dynamics of co-circulating DENV, ZIKV, and CHIKV in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Homicides are a major problem in Brazil. Drugs and arms trafficking, and land conflicts are three of the many factors driving homicide rates in Brazil. Understanding long-term spatiotemporal trends and social structural factors associated with homicides in Brazil would be useful for designing policies aimed at reducing homicide rates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Aedes aegypti rapid larval surveys are mandatory in Brazil. Here, we retrospectively examined whether the house index estimated by larval surveys served as a useful tool in anticipating epidemics within Brazilian municipalities from 2009-2015.
Methods: We used correlation indices and classification analysis stratified by year, region, population size and time after the national larval survey.
Rapid larval surveys have been mandated in nearly every urban Brazilian municipality and promoted by the Pan American Health Organization. These surveys purport to classify arbovirus transmission risk as a basis to triage local surveillance and vector control operations, yet no previous analyses have determined relative risk associated with marginal changes in infestation at administrative and temporal scales relevant to vector control. We estimated associations between entomological indices from six larval surveys and daily incidence rates of confirmed dengue cases in Fortaleza, Brazil using models adjusted for rainfall, and indicators of spatial association.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpidemiol Serv Saude
July 2020
Objective: to describe the experience and preliminary results of the Arbovirus Death Investigation Committee in Ceará, Brazil, in 2017.
Methods: the Committee investigates and discusses all suspected cases of arbovirus deaths reported by the epidemiological surveillance service.
Results: a total of 443 suspected arbovirus deaths were reported, 220 (49.
Introduction: Chikungunya causes fever and severe and persistent joint pain.
Methods: We reported a chikungunya outbreak that occurred in Ceará State, Brazil between 2016 and 2017 with emphasis on epidemiological characterization of cases, high number of deaths, mortality-associated factors, and spatial and temporal spread of the epidemic among municipalities.
Results: In November 2015, the first autochthonous cases of chikungunya were confirmed in Ceará, Brazil.
Background: After being eliminated during the 1950s, dengue reemerged in Brazil in the 1980s. Since then, incidence of the disease has increased, as serotypes move within and between cities. The co-circulation of multiple serotypes contributes to cycles of epidemic and interepidemic years, and a seasonal pattern of transmission is observed annually.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a public health problem, despite recent achievements in reducing incidence and mortality rates. In Brazil, these achievements were above the worldwide average, but marked by large regional heterogeneities. In Fortaleza (5th largest city in Brazil), the tuberculosis cure rate has been declining and treatment abandonment has been increasing in the past decade, despite a reduction in incidence and an increase in directly observed therapy (DOT).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo increase the timeliness of detection of human cases of the new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) and to reduce the risk of transmission, the Brazilian Ministry of Health has established and standardized rules and control measures. These include the definition of criteria for suspect cases, reporting, monitoring, and control measures for illness prevention and transmission. Guidelines to be used by the team of health care staff were published and distributed to health workers.
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