Disease detection, epidemiology and outbreak response: the digital future of public health practice.

Inequalities persist when it comes to the attention, resource allocation and political prioritization, and provision of appropriate, adequate, and timely health interventions to populations in need. Set against a complex socio-political backdrop, the pressure on public health science is significant: institutions and scientists are accountable for helping to find the origins of disease, and to prevent and respond effectively more rapidly than ever. In the field of infectious disease epidemiology, new digital methods are contributing to a new 'digital epidemiology' and are seen as a promising way to increase effectivity and speed of response to infectious disease and public health events.

Burden of Six Healthcare-Associated Infections on European Population Health: Estimating Incidence-Based Disability-Adjusted Life Years through a Population Prevalence-Based Modelling Study.

Background: Estimating the burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) compared to other communicable diseases is an ongoing challenge given the need for good quality data on the incidence of these infections and the involved comorbidities. Based on the methodology of the Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe (BCoDE) project and 2011-2012 data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) point prevalence survey (PPS) of HAIs and antimicrobial use in European acute care hospitals, we estimated the burden of six common HAIs.

Methods And Findings: The included HAIs were healthcare-associated pneumonia (HAP), healthcare-associated urinary tract infection (HA UTI), surgical site infection (SSI), healthcare-associated Clostridium difficile infection (HA CDI), healthcare-associated neonatal sepsis, and healthcare-associated primary bloodstream infection (HA primary BSI).

Neurological sequelae of healthcare-associated sepsis in very-low-birthweight infants: Umbrella review and evidence-based outcome tree.

Sepsis is a frequent cause of death in very-low-birthweight infants and often results in neurological impairment. Its attributable risk of sequelae has not been systematically assessed. To establish an outcome tree for mapping the burden of neonatal sepsis, we performed systematic literature searches to identify systematic reviews addressing sequelae of neonatal sepsis.

What caused the outbreak of ESBL-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in a neonatal intensive care unit, Germany 2009 to 2012? Reconstructing transmission with epidemiological analysis and whole-genome sequencing.

Objective: We aimed to retrospectively reconstruct the timing of transmission events and pathways in order to understand why extensive preventive measures and investigations were not sufficient to prevent new cases.

Methods: We extracted available information from patient charts to describe cases and to compare them to the normal population of the ward. We conducted a cohort study to identify risk factors for pathogen acquisition.

Social media and internet-based data in global systems for public health surveillance: a systematic review.

Context: The exchange of health information on the Internet has been heralded as an opportunity to improve public health surveillance. In a field that has traditionally relied on an established system of mandatory and voluntary reporting of known infectious diseases by doctors and laboratories to governmental agencies, innovations in social media and so-called user-generated information could lead to faster recognition of cases of infectious disease. More direct access to such data could enable surveillance epidemiologists to detect potential public health threats such as rare, new diseases or early-level warnings for epidemics.

A survey of outpatient antibiotic prescribing for cystitis.

Background: In view of the currently increasing rates of antibiotic resistance, we studied the factors that affect the prescribing of specific antibiotics for uncomplicated cystitis in outpatient care.

Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional survey of physicians in private practice in various specialties (internal medicine, general medicine, surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, child and adolescent medicine, otorhinolaryngology, dermatology, urology) was carried out in 2008. The sample was derived from the German state directories of medical specialists.

Ecological analysis of social risk factors for Rotavirus infections in Berlin, Germany, 2007-2009.

Background: Socioeconomic factors are increasingly recognised as related to health inequalities in Germany and are also identified as important contributing factors for an increased risk of acquiring infections. The aim of the present study was to describe in an ecological analysis the impact of different social factors on the risk of acquiring infectious diseases in an urban setting. The specific outcome of interest was the distribution of Rotavirus infections, which are a leading cause of acute gastroenteritis among infants and also a burden in the elderly in Germany.

The FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany 2011--a practical example for tailoring an event-specific enhanced infectious disease surveillance system.

Background: Mass gatherings require a decision from public health authorities on how to monitor infectious diseases during the event. The appropriate level of enhanced surveillance depends on parameters like the scale of the event (duration, spatial distribution, season), participants' origin, amount of public attention, and baseline disease activity in the host country. For the FIFA Men's World Cup 2006, Germany implemented enhanced surveillance.

Eliciting views on antibiotic prescribing and resistance among hospital and outpatient care physicians in Berlin, Germany: results of a qualitative study.

Objective: To better understand physicians' views on factors of influence for the prescribing of antibiotics and on antibiotic resistance in the Berlin region, Germany.

Design: Qualitative study with focus groups.

Setting: Outpatient care and hospital care practice in the Berlin region, Germany.