Epidemiologic Analysis of Chilblains Cohorts Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Importance: Beginning in March 2020, case reports and case series linked the COVID-19 pandemic with an increased occurrence of chilblains, but this association has not been evaluated in an epidemiologic study.

Objective: To assess whether a correlation exists between COVID-19 incidence and chilblains incidence.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A retrospective cohort study was conducted within the Kaiser Permanente Northern California system from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2020; health plan members of all ages were included.

The changing epidemiology of serious bacterial infections in young infants.

Background: Management of febrile young infants suspected of having serious bacterial infections has been a challenge for decades. The impact of changes in prenatal screening for Group B Streptococcus and of infant immunizations has received little attention in population-based studies.

Methods: This study analyzed all cultures of blood, urine and cerebrospinal fluid obtained from full-term infants 1 week to 3 months of age, who presented for care at Kaiser Permanente Northern California during a 7-year period utilizing electronic medical records.

Changing epidemiology of bacteremia in infants aged 1 week to 3 months.

Background: Bacteremia in young infants has remained an important ongoing concern for decades. Despite changes in prenatal screening and infant immunizations, the current epidemiology of this problem has received little attention.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of all blood cultures collected at Kaiser Permanente Northern California on full-term, previously healthy infants presenting for care between 1 week to 3 months of age for whom a blood culture was drawn from January 1, 2005, through December 31, 2009.

Perceived risks and benefits of HIV testing, and predictors of acceptance of HIV counselling and testing among pregnant women in Zimbabwe.

This project evaluated perceived risks and benefits and determined predictors of acceptance of voluntary HIV counselling and testing (VCT) among pregnant women in Zimbabwe. One hundred and seventy pregnant women attending an urban antenatal clinic were surveyed. Implications of a negative or positive HIV test result and of telling a partner or community members that one is HIV positive were queried.

Changing epidemiology of outpatient bacteremia in 3- to 36-month-old children after the introduction of the heptavalent-conjugated pneumococcal vaccine.

Background: The introduction of routine vaccination with heptavalent conjugated pneumococcal vaccine has changed the overall incidence of bacteremia in children 3 months-3 years old.

Objective: To describe the changing incidence and etiology of bacteremia in previously healthy toddlers presenting to outpatient clinical settings.

Methods: Retrospective case series of all blood cultures obtained between September 1998 and August 2003 in Kaiser Permanente Northern California outpatient clinics and emergency departments from previously healthy children 3 months-3 years old.

Viral dynamics of early HIV infection in neonatal macaques after oral exposure to HIV-2287: an animal model with implications for maternal-neonatal HIV transmission.

A model of vertical HIV transmission was developed using oral HIV-2(287) exposure of newborn Macaca nemestrina. The minimal Animal Infectious Dose for this oral route was found to be 10-fold higher than that for atraumatic viral transmission across other mucosal membranes (vaginal/rectal) of juvenile macaques. However, once infection was established, viral replication was rapid and plasma viremia could be detected by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and viral co-culture within 1 week following exposure.