Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Viral Hepatitis in New York City.

Background:  The incidence and mortality rate of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are increasing in the United States. Viral hepatitis infection is a primary risk factor for HCC. This study describes the relationship between viral hepatitis and HCC in New York City (NYC).

Impact of hepatitis B on mortality and specific causes of death in adults with and without HIV co-infection in NYC, 2000-2011.

High rates of immigration from endemic countries contribute to the high chronic hepatitis B (HBV) prevalence in New York City (NYC) compared to the United States overall, i.e. about 1 million individuals.

Barriers to Treatment Among New York City Residents with Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection, 2014.

Objective: New, highly effective hepatitis C virus (HCV) medications recently changed the landscape of HCV treatment. Access to treatment, however, is limited. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene conducted an enhanced surveillance project to better understand the reasons patients are not treated for HCV.

Factors Associated With Hepatitis C Infection Among HIV-Infected Men Who Have Sex With Men With No Reported Injection Drug Use in New York City, 2000-2010.

Background: Hepatitis C (HCV) infection is a major source of morbidity and mortality among HIV-infected patients. Despite decreasing HCV incidence in the United States, the proportion of cases among men who have sex with men (MSM) without history of injection drug use (IDU) in New York City has more than tripled between 2000 and 2010.

Methods: Using matched surveillance data, we identified non-IDU HIV-infected MSM with and without diagnosed HCV.

Hepatitis C surveillance among youth and young adults in New York City, 2009-2013.

Increases in prescription opioid misuse, injection drug use, and hepatitis C infections have been reported among youth and young adults in the USA, particularly in rural and suburban areas. To better understand these trends in New York City and to characterize demographics and risk factors among a population who, by virtue of their age, are more likely to be recently infected with hepatitis C, we analyzed routine hepatitis C surveillance data from 2009 to 2013 and investigated a sample of persons 30 and younger newly reported with hepatitis C in 2013. Between 2009 and 2013, 4811 persons 30 and younger were newly reported to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene with hepatitis C.

Duplicate hepatitis C antibody testing in New York City, 2006-2010.

Repeating a hepatitis C virus antibody test for a person who previously tested positive provides no new information, wastes resources, and may reflect poor coordination of medical care. Using public health surveillance data collected by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, we evaluated the magnitude of duplicate antibody testing and assessed patient-level and facility-level risk factors for duplicate testing. From 2006 to 2010, 70,257 duplicate tests were performed for 58,886 individuals in New York City, costing an estimated $1.

HIV and viral hepatitis co-infection in New York City, 2000-2010: prevalence and case characteristics.

Using surveillance data, we describe the prevalence and characteristics of individuals in New York City (NYC) co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) and/or hepatitis C virus (HCV). Surveillance databases including persons reported to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene with HIV, HBV, and HCV by 31 December 2010 and not known to be dead as of 1 January 2000, were matched with 2000-2011 vital statistics mortality data. Of 140 606 persons reported with HIV, 4% were co-infected with HBV only, 15% were co-infected with HCV only, and 1% were co-infected with HBV and HCV.

Deaths among people with hepatitis C in New York City, 2000-2011.

Background: Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) increases the risk of death from liver and nonliver-related diseases. Coinfection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) further increases this risk.

Methods: Surveillance data (2000-2010) and mortality data (2000-2011) maintained by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) were deterministically cross-matched.

Reassessing provider reporting in the age of electronic surveillance.

Context: In 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began funding health departments to implement integrated electronic systems for disease surveillance.

Objective: Determine the impact of discontinuing provider reporting for chronic hepatitis B and C, hepatitis A, and select enteric diseases.

Design: Laboratory and provider surveillance reports of chronic hepatitis B and C and enteric infections (Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, Campylobacter, Listeria, noncholera Vibrio [eg, Vibrio parahaemolyticus], Salmonella, Shigella, and hepatitis A) diagnosed on January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2010 were compared for completeness and timeliness.

Enhanced chronic hepatitis C surveillance in New York City, April 2009-January 2011.

Objective: We analyzed and evaluated enhanced chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) surveillance in New York City (NYC), which involved detailed investigations on a sample of newly reported HCV patients.

Methods: Beginning in July 2009, we generated a simple random sample bimonthly from all patients newly reported with a positive HCV test. We administered questionnaires to clinicians and patients to collect clinical and epidemiological information on patients diagnosed from April 2009 to January 2011 and evaluated the staff resources required to conduct enhanced surveillance.

Medication injection safety knowledge and practices among anesthesiologists: New York State, 2011.

Study Objective: To survey anesthesiologists to assess medication injection safety knowledge and practices, and to improve infection control programs of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists (NYSSA).

Design: Survey instrument.

Setting: Scientific Educational and Professional Development Program Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Half a diagnosis: gap in confirming infection among hepatitis C antibody-positive patients.

Background: Recent guidelines recommend testing all individuals born during 1945-1965 for hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody. For antibody-positive patients, subsequent RNA testing is necessary to determine current infection status. This study aimed to assess whether clinicians order HCV RNA tests as recommended for antibody-positive patients and to identify barriers to such testing.

Estimating the prevalence of hepatitis C infection in New York City using surveillance data.

Hepatitis C virus is the most common chronic blood-borne infection in the USA. Based on results of a serosurvey, national prevalence is estimated to be 1·3% or 3·2 million people. Sub-national estimates are not available for most jurisdictions.

Hepatitis C transmission due to contamination of multidose medication vials: summary of an outbreak and a call to action.

In May 2001, The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene was informed of a cluster of 4 patients treated at an outpatient gastroenterology center who developed acute hepatitis C virus infection. An investigation identified a total of 12 clinic-associated hepatitis C virus transmissions and the outbreak and was traced to unsafe handling of multidose anesthetic vials and possible re-use of contaminated needles. This report typifies the types of outbreaks that continue to occur despite safe injection guidelines.

Case-control study of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in older adults: Do healthcare exposures contribute to burden of new infections?

Unlabelled: Reports of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission associated with unsafe medical practices have been increasing in the United States. However, the contribution of healthcare exposures to the burden of new infections is poorly understood outside of recognized outbreaks. We conducted a case-control study at three health departments that perform enhanced viral hepatitis surveillance in New York and Oregon.

Characteristics, services, and infection control practices of New York City assisted living facilities, 2010.

Objectives: To describe New York City (NYC) assisted living facility (ALF) characteristics, services offered, and infection control practices and to identify infection control barriers and unmet needs.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: ALFs licensed or applying to be licensed in NYC.

Estimating the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus infection--New York City, 2008.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a preventable cause of liver failure, cirrhosis, and liver cancer; estimated chronic HBV infection prevalence is 0.3-0.5% in the U.

Unmet needs among people reported with hepatitis C, New York City.

Objective: This project sought to describe unmet needs among patients reported with hepatitis C in New York City.

Design: From the New York City Health Department's hepatitis C surveillance database, we randomly selected patients whose positive hepatitis C test was in April or May 2005. In 2006, we interviewed patients by telephone and collected information from their clinicians or by medical record review.

Prevalence of hepatitis C infection in New York City, 2004.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the leading cause of chronic liver disease in the United States. Accurate hepatitis C prevalence estimates are important to guide local public health programs but are usually unavailable to local health jurisdictions. National surveys may not reflect local variation, a particular challenge for urban settings with disproportionately large numbers of residents in high-risk population groups.

A recurring outbreak of Shigella sonnei among traditionally observant Jewish children in New York City: the risks of daycare and household transmission.

Dispersed community outbreaks of Shigella sonnei have occurred cyclically among traditionally observant Jews in the United States. In February 2000, we investigated a S. sonnei outbreak in one Jewish community in New York City.

A large outbreak of hepatitis B virus infections associated with frequent injections at a physician's office.

Objectives: To determine whether hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission occurred among patients visiting a physician's office and to evaluate potential transmission mechanisms.

Design: Serologic survey, retrospective cohort study, and observation of infection control practices.

Setting: Private medical office.

Enhanced drop-in syndromic surveillance in New York City following September 11, 2001.

After the 2001 World Trade Center disaster, the New York City Department of Health was under heightened alert for bioterrorist attacks in the city. An emergency department (ED) syndromic surveillance system was implemented with the assistance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure early recognition of an increase or clustering of disease syndromes that might represent a disease outbreak, whether natural or intentional. The surveillance system was based on data collected 7 days a week at area EDs.

Aging cohort of perinatally human immunodeficiency virus-infected children in New York City. New York City Pediatric Surveillance of Disease Consortium.

Background: New York City (NYC) pediatricians are now caring for fewer HIV-infected infants and more school age children and adolescents than earlier in the epidemic.

Methods: Clinical, laboratory and demographic data were abstracted from medical records at 10 NYC centers participating in the CDC Pediatric Spectrum of HIV Disease project. Pediatric AIDS cases and HIV-related deaths reported to the NYC Department of Health were examined.

Tuberculosis in human immunodeficiency virus-infected and human immunodeficiency virus-exposed children in New York City. The New York City Pediatric Spectrum of HIV Disease Consortium.

Background: Tuberculosis disease incidence increased sharply in New York City (NYC) in the late 1980s in children and adults. The relationship of tuberculosis disease in adults with the coincident epidemic of immunosuppression caused by HIV disease has been well-documented. This paper examines the relationship of tuberculosis and HIV in children in NYC.