Local government interventions for improving the health and wellbeing of tenants in private rented housing: developing initial program theory to inform evaluation in the United Kingdom.

Background: Housing is an important wider determinant of health. Private Rented Sector (PRS) housing is generally the worst quality of housing stock across tenures. Although a wide range of interventions are available to local governments to manage and improve the quality of PRS housing and therefore the health of tenants, there is limited evidence about the extent to which these are used.

An outbreak of linked to pasteurised milk from a vending machine in England: a descriptive study, March 2021.

We describe the investigations and management of a outbreak of linked to consumption of pasteurised milk from a vending machine. Multiple locus variable number of tandem repeats analysis was newly used, confirming that detected in human cases was indistinguishable from that in a calf on the farm. This strengthened the evidence for milk from an on-farm vending machine as the source of the outbreak because of post-pasteurisation contamination.

COVID-19 outbreak rates and infection attack rates associated with the workplace: a descriptive epidemiological study.

Objectives: A large number of COVID-19 outbreaks/clusters have been reported in a variety of workplace settings since the start of the pandemic but the rate of outbreak occurrence in the workplace has not previously been assessed. The objectives of this paper are to identify the geographical areas and industrial sectors with a high rate of outbreaks of COVID-19 and to compare infection attack rates by enterprise size and sector in England.

Methods: Public Health England (PHE) HPZone data on COVID-19 outbreaks in workplaces, between 18 May and 12 October 2020, were analysed.

Impact of public health team engagement in alcohol licensing on health and crime outcomes in England and Scotland: A comparative timeseries study between 2012 and 2019.

Background: Public health teams (PHTs) in England and Scotland engage to varying degrees in local alcohol licensing systems to try to reduce alcohol-related harms. No previous quantitative evidence is available on the effectiveness of this engagement. We aimed to quantify the effects of PHT engagement in alcohol licensing on selected health and crime outcomes.

Describing the indirect impact of COVID-19 on healthcare utilisation using syndromic surveillance systems.

Background: Since the end of January 2020, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been responsible for a global health crisis. In England a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions have been introduced throughout the pandemic, including guidelines on healthcare attendance (for example, promoting remote consultations), increased handwashing and social distancing. These interventions are likely to have impacted the incidence of non-COVID-19 conditions as well as healthcare seeking behaviour.

Association between opioid agonist therapy use and HIV testing uptake among people who have recently injected drugs: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background And Aim: Globally, nearly one in five people who inject drugs (PWID) are living with HIV, and the rate of new HIV infections in PWID is increasing in some settings. Early diagnosis is crucial for effective HIV control. We reviewed the evidence on the association between opioid agonist therapy (OAT) and HIV testing uptake among PWID.

Household crowding, social mixing patterns and respiratory symptoms in seven countries of the African meningitis belt.

Objectives: To describe the variation in household crowding and social mixing patterns in the African meningitis belt and to assess any association with self-reported recent respiratory symptoms.

Methods: In 2010, the African Meningococcal Carriage Consortium (MenAfriCar) conducted cross-sectional surveys in urban and rural areas of seven countries. The number of household members, rooms per household, attendance at social gatherings and meeting places were recorded.