Extrapolating Sentinel Surveillance Information to Estimate National COVID Hospital Admission Rates: A Bayesian Modeling Approach.

The COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) was established in March 2020 to monitor trends in hospitalizations associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. COVID-NET is a geographically diverse population-based surveillance system for laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-associated hospitalizations with a combined catchment area covering approximately 10% of the US population. Data collected in COVID-NET includes monthly counts of hospitalizations for persons with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who reside within the defined catchment area.

Is detection of enteropathogens and human or animal faecal markers in the environment associated with subsequent child enteric infections and growth: an individual participant data meta-analysis.

Background: Quantifying contributions of environmental faecal contamination to child diarrhoea and growth faltering can illuminate causal mechanisms behind modest health benefits in recent water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) trials. We aimed to assess associations between environmental detection of enteropathogens and human or animal microbial source tracking markers (MSTM) and subsequent child health outcomes.

Methods: In this individual participant data meta-analysis we searched we searched PubMed, Embase, CAB Direct Global Health, Agricultural and Environmental Science Database, Web of Science, and Scopus for WASH intervention studies with a prospective design and concurrent control that measured enteropathogens or MSTM in environmental samples, or both, and subsequently measured enteric infections, diarrhoea, or height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) in children younger than 5 years.

Effects of water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions on detection of enteropathogens and host-specific faecal markers in the environment: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis.

Background: Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) improvements are promoted to reduce diarrhoea in low-income countries. However, trials from the past 5 years have found mixed effects of household-level and community-level WASH interventions on child health. Measuring pathogens and host-specific faecal markers in the environment can help investigate causal pathways between WASH and health by quantifying whether and by how much interventions reduce environmental exposure to enteric pathogens and faecal contamination from human and different animal sources.

Point Prevalence Estimates of Activity-Limiting Long-term Symptoms Among United States Adults ≥1 Month After Reported Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection, 1 November 2021.

Background: Although most adults infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) fully recover, a proportion have ongoing symptoms, or post-COVID conditions (PCC), after infection. The objective of this analysis was to estimate the number of United States (US) adults with activity-limiting PCC on 1 November 2021.

Methods: We modeled the prevalence of PCC using reported infections occurring from 1 February 2020 to 30 September 2021, and population-based, household survey data on new activity-limiting symptoms ≥1 month following SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Use of At-Home COVID-19 Tests - United States, August 23, 2021-March 12, 2022.

COVID-19 testing provides information regarding exposure and transmission risks, guides preventative measures (e.g., if and when to start and end isolation and quarantine), identifies opportunities for appropriate treatments, and helps assess disease prevalence (1).

COVID-19 Cases and Hospitalizations by COVID-19 Vaccination Status and Previous COVID-19 Diagnosis - California and New York, May-November 2021.

By November 30, 2021, approximately 130,781 COVID-19-associated deaths, one in six of all U.S. deaths from COVID-19, had occurred in California and New York.

Covid-19 Rates by Time since Vaccination during Delta Variant Predominance.

Background: With the emergence of the delta variant, the United States experienced a rapid increase in Covid-19 cases in 2021. We estimated the risk of breakthrough infection and death by month of vaccination as a proxy for waning immunity during a period of delta variant predominance.

Methods: Covid-19 case and death data from 15 U.

Serogroup A, C, W, and Y meningococcal disease in persons previously vaccinated with a serogroup ACWY meningococcal vaccine - United States, 2014-2018.

Background: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends routine vaccination with a quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate serogroup A,C,W,Y (MenACWY) vaccine at 11-12 years of age, with a booster dose at 16 years. ACIP also recommends meningococcal vaccination for persons at increased risk of meningococcal disease, including a 2-dose primary series and regular booster doses for persons at increased risk because of underlying medical conditions. U.

Monitoring Incidence of COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations, and Deaths, by Vaccination Status - 13 U.S. Jurisdictions, April 4-July 17, 2021.

COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection surveillance helps monitor trends in disease incidence and severe outcomes in fully vaccinated persons, including the impact of the highly transmissible B.1.617.

Genomic Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 Variants Circulating in the United States, December 2020-May 2021.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is constantly mutating, leading to new variants (1). Variants have the potential to affect transmission, disease severity, diagnostics, therapeutics, and natural and vaccine-induced immunity. In November 2020, CDC established national surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 variants using genomic sequencing.

Effects of a combined water and sanitation intervention on biomarkers of child environmental enteric dysfunction and associations with height-for-age z-score: A matched cohort study in rural Odisha, India.

Poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) conditions are hypothesized to contribute to environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), a subclinical condition that may be associated with chronic undernutrition and impaired linear growth. We evaluated the effect of a combined water and sanitation intervention on biomarkers of EED, and then assessed associations of biomarkers of EED with height-for-age z-scores (HAZ), in children under five. We conducted a sub-study within a matched cohort study of a household-level water and sanitation infrastructure intervention in rural Odisha, India, in which we had observed an effect of the intervention on HAZ.

Lack of Serologic Evidence of Infection Among Health Care Personnel and Other Contacts of First 2 Confirmed Patients With COVID-19 in Illinois, 2020.

Objectives: Widespread global transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), continues. Many questions remain about asymptomatic or atypical infections and transmission dynamics. We used comprehensive contact tracing of the first 2 confirmed patients in Illinois with COVID-19 and serologic SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing to determine whether contacts had evidence of undetected COVID-19.

Enhanced contact investigations for nine early travel-related cases of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was first identified in Wuhan, China and has since become pandemic. In response to the first cases identified in the United States, close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases were investigated to enable early identification and isolation of additional cases and to learn more about risk factors for transmission. Close contacts of nine early travel-related cases in the United States were identified and monitored daily for development of symptoms (active monitoring).

Invasive Meningococcal Disease in Africa's Meningitis Belt: More Than Just Meningitis?

Since the progressive introduction of the meningococcal serogroup A conjugate vaccine within Africa's meningitis belt beginning in 2010, the burden of meningitis due to Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A (NmA) has substantially decreased. Non-A serogroups C/W/X are now the most prevalent. Surveillance within the belt has historically focused on the clinical syndrome of meningitis, the classic presentation for NmA, and may not adequately capture other presentations of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD).

Urban sanitation coverage and environmental fecal contamination: Links between the household and public environments of Accra, Ghana.

Exposure to fecal contamination in public areas, especially in dense, urban environments, may significantly contribute to enteric infection risk. This study examined associations between sanitation and fecal contamination in public environments in four low-income neighborhoods in Accra, Ghana. Soil (n = 72) and open drain (n = 90) samples were tested for E.

Multipathway Quantitative Assessment of Exposure to Fecal Contamination for Young Children in Low-Income Urban Environments in Accra, Ghana: The SaniPath Analytical Approach.

Lack of adequate sanitation results in fecal contamination of the environment and poses a risk of disease transmission via multiple exposure pathways. To better understand how eight different sources contribute to overall exposure to fecal contamination, we quantified exposure through multiple pathways for children under 5 years old in four high-density, low-income, urban neighborhoods in Accra, Ghana. We collected more than 500 hours of structured observation of behaviors of 156 children, 800 household surveys, and 1,855 environmental samples.

Quantifying Contact with the Environment: Behaviors of Young Children in Accra, Ghana.

To better understand the risks of exposure for young children to fecal contamination in their environment, we systematically characterized and quantified behaviors of 154 children, 0-5 years old, in four high-density, low-income neighborhoods in Accra, Ghana. A repertoire of six different activities and five different compartments (categories of locations within the household) was developed, and about 500 hours of ordered structured observations of activities and locations of individual children were collected. These records were analyzed using a competing hazards model, estimating (Weibull) hazard rates for each state (activity/compartment combination), dependent on the present state and the preceding state.