Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 in the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean: an epidemiological overview.

Objective: To describe epidemiological trends of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean during the pandemic period.

Design And Methods: Data on laboratory-confirmed cases and deaths associated with pandemic influenza A (H1N1) contained in two regional databases at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) were analysed. The data sources were epidemiological and laboratory reports from English and Dutch-speaking countries and the CAREC laboratory information system (LABIS).

Distribution of influenza and other acute respiratory viruses during the first year after the 2009-2010 influenza pandemic in the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries.

Background: Limited specimen collection and testing for influenza occurred in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries prior to the 2009/2010 influenza pandemic. Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) member countries rapidly mobilized to collect specimens during the pandemic and a vast majority of confirmed cases during the pandemic period were influenza A(H1N1)pdm09.

Objectives: To describe the aetiology and distribution of acute respiratory illness (ARI) among laboratory confirmed cases during the first year after the 2009/2010 influenza pandemic in the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean.

Evidence on delay in sexual initiation, multiple partnerships and condom use among young people: review of Caribbean HIV behavioural studies.

Objective: To develop a Caribbean regional profile of youth sexual behaviour associated with risk of HIV.

Design And Methods: A review of sexual behaviour surveys with youth aged 15-24 years was conducted as part of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) HIV Caribbean Office's Review and Gender Analysis of Caribbean HIV Behavioural and Seroprevalence Studies. Studies with internationally recommended indicators were prioritized.

Cricket World Cup: a stress test for the surveillance system in the Caribbean.

Objective: To describe the development and implementation of and major findings and recommendations from, a regional mass gathering surveillance system (MGSS) in support of the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007.

Methods: The regional MGSS was developed by the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) and its member countries as an adaptation of the routine communicable disease surveillance system in order to rapidly detect unusual disease events during the tournament. The implementation of the MGSS required the identification of additional human and financial resources, capacity building activities, laboratory strengthening, and improved global epidemic surveillance and communication mechanisms.

Human papillomavirus genotypes and their prevalence in a cohort of women in Trinidad.

Objective: Human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes and their relative prevalences were determined in a cohort of 310 sexually active women in Trinidad, West Indies.

Methods: Cervical samples were collected with Ayre's spatulas and endocervical brushes. Samples were used for the conventional Papanicolaou test and for determining HPV genotypes by amplification of a section of the viral L1 gene, followed by DNA sequencing and probe hybridization.

HIV seroprevalence among male prison inmates in the six countries of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean states in the Caribbean (OECS).

Objective: To determine HIV prevalence among male prison inmates in the six OECS countries in the Caribbean.

Subjects And Methods: Six unlinked, anonymous point prevalence surveys of a total of 1288 male inmates were conducted during a one-year period, August 2004 - August 2005. An oral fluid sample was collected and an interviewer-administered questionnaire and consent form was completed for each survey participant.

Mortality trends and potential years of life lost in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, 1985-2000.

Objective: To describe mortality trends and potential years of life lost (PYLL) due to leading causes of death in 21 Caribbean countries during 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000.

Methods: Mortality data for 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000 were analyzed to identify regional mortality trends using crude, age-specific and age-adjusted death rates and potential years of life lost. The variables used were age, gender and underlying cause of death.

Caribbean Public Health Laboratory Surveillance Project: a Department of Defense-sponsored humanitarian mission.

This report describes a Department of Defense humanitarian assistance project to develop and build a regional computer-assisted laboratory-based electronic disease surveillance system in the Caribbean basin. From 1997 through 2000, the project donated 146 computer systems and trained more than 250 personnel from 14 ministries of health to operate this system. This humanitarian mission provided the region with a sustainable and locally maintained and operated surveillance system having a broad and long-term impact on public health.

Factors associated with HIV infection are not the same for all women.

Study Objectives: To determine if factors associated with HIV infection vary between subpopulations of women resident in Great Britain.

Design: Case-control analyses on already existing datasets.

Setting: Great Britain.

Surveillance for the impact in the UK of HIV epidemics in South Asia.

Objectives: To determine whether, because of the extensive recent spread of HIV infection in South Asia, South Asians (those people who classify themselves as Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan in origin) resident in the UK were at increased risk of HIV infection and to review current surveillance systems for detecting any such increase.

Design: Analysis of: ethnic grouping and probable country of infection recorded on voluntary confidential reports of AIDS cases and newly diagnosed HIV infections; blood donation testing data; reports of imported gonorrhoea infections; country of birth data from the unlinked anonymous (UA) survey of Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) clinic attenders; district of residence data from the UA survey of pregnant women; ethnic grouping of prevalent diagnosed HIV infections.

Results: Few reported AIDS cases or HIV infections were found in people of South Asian ethnic origin and few reported HIV or gonorrhoea infections were associated with exposure in South Asia.

The relationship of HIV prevalence in pregnant women to that in women of reproductive age: a validated method for adjustment.

Objective: To devise and validate a method for adjusting HIV seroprevalences in pregnant women to estimate population prevalences among all women in their child-bearing years.

Design: Birth and termination rates from women with known HIV infection in the United Kingdom were calculated according to the likely route of HIV infection and whether HIV infection was diagnosed.

Methods: Birth and termination rates were weighted and combined to produce summary statistics.

Interpreting HIV seroprevalence data from pregnant women.

HIV prevalence estimates for pregnant women from unlinked anonymous surveys are becoming increasingly available and can be used to determine the prevalence of HIV in women in the same population. The ratio of prevalence in pregnant women to that in all women is influenced by HIV-related risk behaviours that are different for pregnant and nonpregnant women and also by differences in fertility level among infected and uninfected women. This ratio is affected by biases that are likely to be culturally and socially specific.