Quality of malaria data in public health facilities in three provinces of Mozambique.

Background: Malaria data reported through Mozambique's routine health information system are used to guide the implementation of prevention and control activities. Although previous studies have identified issues with the quality of aggregated data reported from public health facilities in the country, no studies have evaluated the quality of routine indicators recorded in health facility registries. This study addresses this issue by comparing indicators calculated from data from exit interviews and re-examinations of patients with data based on registry records from health facilities in order to measure the quality of registry data and data reporting in three provinces in Mozambique.

Quality of malaria services offered in public health facilities in three provinces of Mozambique: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Fever associated with malaria is the leading cause of health care-seeking in Mozambique, yet there is limited evidence on the quality of malaria case management. This study evaluated the quality of malaria service provision offered in public health facilities in Mozambique.

Methods: A cross-sectional assessment was conducted in April-May 2018 in three provinces of Mozambique: Maputo Province (low malaria burden), Cabo Delgado (high), and Zambézia (high).

Spatio-temporal modelling of weekly malaria incidence in children under 5 for early epidemic detection in Mozambique.

Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Mozambique. We present a malaria early warning system (MEWS) for Mozambique informed by seven years of weekly case reports of malaria in children under 5 years of age from 142 districts. A spatio-temporal model was developed based on explanatory climatic variables to map exceedance probabilities, defined as the predictive probability that the relative risk of malaria incidence in a given district for a particular week will exceed a predefined threshold.

Reduced West Nile Virus Transmission Around Communal Roosts of Great-Tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus).

West Nile virus has caused several outbreaks among humans in the Phoenix metropolitan area (Arizona, southwest USA) within the last decade. Recent ecologic studies have implicated Culex quinquefasciatus and Culex tarsalis as the mosquito vectors and identified three abundant passerine birds-great-tailed grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus), house sparrow (Passer domesticus), and house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)-as key amplifiers among vertebrates. Nocturnal congregations of certain species have been suggested as critical for late summer West Nile virus amplification.

West Nile virus outbreak in Phoenix, Arizona--2010: entomological observations and epidemiological correlations.

In 2010, Arizona experienced an unusually early and severe outbreak of West Nile virus (WNV) centered in the southeast section of Maricopa County. Entomological data were collected before and during the outbreak, from May 25 through July 31, 2010, using the CO2-baited light trap monitoring system maintained by Maricopa County Vector Control. In the outbreak area, the most abundant species in the Town of Gilbert and in the area covered by the Roosevelt Water Conservation District was Culex quinquefasciatus, constituting 75.

Improved detection of Bartonella DNA in mammalian hosts and arthropod vectors by real-time PCR using the NADH dehydrogenase gamma subunit (nuoG).

We used a whole-genome scanning technique to identify the NADH dehydrogenase gamma subunit (nuoG) primer set that is sensitive and specific enough to detect a diverse number of Bartonella species in a wide range of environmental samples yet maintains minimal cross-reactivity to mammalian host and arthropod vector organisms.

Detection of Bartonella tamiae DNA in ectoparasites from rodents in Thailand and their sequence similarity with bacterial cultures from Thai patients.

Ectoparasites, including chigger mites (genera Leptotrombidium, Schoengastia, and Blankarrtia) and one tick (genus Haemaphysalis) collected from wild-caught rodents in Thailand, were assessed for the presence of Bartonella DNA by using a polymerase chain reaction assay targeting the 16S-23S intergenic spacer region and citrate synthase gene (gltA). Of the 41 pooled samples tested, 34 were positive for Bartonella DNA. Sequence analysis demonstrated that DNA detected in 33 chigger mite pools and one tick pool was similar to Bartonella tamiae sequences previously isolated from three patients in Thailand.

Estimation of copy number using SYBR Green: confounding by AT-rich DNA and by variation in amplicon length.

Although SYBR Green is used to estimate copy number, its fluorescence varies with amplicon length and adenine/thymine (AT) content. As a result, threshold cycle (Ct) values obtained using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are lower for longer amplicons (P<0.001) and amplicons with greater AT content (P<0.

Identifying and quantifying genotypes in polyclonal infections due to single species.

Simultaneous infection with multiple pathogens of the same species occurs with HIV, hepatitis C, Epstein-Barr virus, dengue, tuberculosis, and malaria. However, available methods do not distinguish among or quantify pathogen genotypes in individual patients; they also cannot test for novel insertions and deletions in genetically modified organisms. The strategy reported here accomplishes these goals with real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and capillary electrophoresis.