Background: The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the challenge of swiftly disseminating research findings to a global audience. Language barriers further exacerbated disparities in access to timely scientific information, particularly for non-English speaking communities. The majority of COVID-19 research was published in English, limiting accessibility for Spanish-speaking populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: As the global population soars, human behaviours are increasing the risk of epidemics. Objective performance evaluation of outbreak responses requires that metrics of timeliness, or speed in response time, be recorded and reported. We sought to evaluate how timeliness data are being conveyed for multisectoral outbreaks and make recommendations on how One Health metrics can be used to improve response success.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In a year-long pneumonia etiology study conducted June 2017 to May 2018 in Sarawak, Malaysia, 599 patients' nasopharyngeal swab specimens were studied with real-time polymerase chain reaction (rPCR)/ reverse-transcription (rRT-PCR) assays for respiratory pathogens known to contribute to the high burden of lower respiratory tract infections. The study team sought to compare real-time assay results with panspecies conventional molecular diagnostics to compare sensitivities and learn if novel viruses had been missed.
Methods: Specimens were studied for evidence of adenovirus (AdV), enterovirus (EV) and coronavirus (CoV) with panspecies gel-based nested PCR/RT-PCR assays.
Trop Dis Travel Med Vaccines
March 2020
In 2018, our team collected aerosols samples from five poultry farms in Malaysia. Influenza D virus was detected in 14% of samples. One sample had an 86.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdenoviruses (AdVs) are major contributors to clinical illnesses. Novel human and animal AdVs continue to be identified and characterized. Comparative analyses using bioinformatic methods and Omics-based technologies allow insights into how these human pathogens have emerged and their potential for host cross-species transmission.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although pneumonia is a known cause of morbidity and mortality in Sarawak, Malaysia, the etiology and epidemiology of pneumonia are not well described in this equatorial region. Routine clinical diagnostics for pneumonia etiology at government hospitals in Sarawak had historically involved only bacterial diagnostics. Viral diagnostics were only obtained through outside consultations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEmerg Microbes Infect
September 2018
Enteroviruses infect millions of humans annually worldwide, primarily infants and children. With a high mutation rate and frequent recombination, enteroviruses are noted to evolve and change over time. Given the evidence that human enteroviruses are commonly found in other mammalian species and that some human and animal enteroviruses are genetically similar, it is possible that enzootic enteroviruses may also be infecting human populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis year, in 2018, we mark 100 years since the 1918 influenza pandemic. In the last 100 years, we have expanded our knowledge of public health and increased our ability to detect and prevent influenza; however, we still face challenges resulting from these continually evolving viruses. Today, it is clear that influenza viruses have multiple animal reservoirs (domestic and wild), making infection prevention in humans especially difficult to achieve.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and parainfluenza virus (PIV) are frequent causes of pneumonia and death among children at Sibu and Kapit Hospitals in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Objectives: To determine the prevalence and risk factors for RSV subtypes A and B and PIV types 1-4 among patients hospitalized with pneumonia.
Methods: In a cross-sectional, pilot study nasopharyngeal swabs were studied with real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays.
During the last two decades, scientists have grown increasingly aware that viruses are emerging from the human-animal interface. In particular, respiratory infections are problematic; in early 2003, World Health Organization issued a worldwide alert for a previously unrecognized illness that was subsequently found to be caused by a novel coronavirus [severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus]. In addition to SARS, other respiratory pathogens have also emerged recently, contributing to the high burden of respiratory tract infection-related morbidity and mortality.
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