Differential rates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission associate with host-pathogen sympatry.

Several human-adapted Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (Mtbc) lineages exhibit a restricted geographical distribution globally. These lineages are hypothesized to transmit more effectively among sympatric hosts, that is, those that share the same geographical area, though this is yet to be confirmed while controlling for exposure, social networks and disease risk after exposure. Using pathogen genomic and contact tracing data from 2,279 tuberculosis cases linked to 12,749 contacts from three low-incidence cities, we show that geographically restricted Mtbc lineages were less transmissible than lineages that have a widespread global distribution.

Logically Inferred Tuberculosis Transmission (LITT): A Data Integration Algorithm to Rank Potential Source Cases.

Understanding tuberculosis (TB) transmission chains can help public health staff target their resources to prevent further transmission, but currently there are few tools to automate this process. We have developed the Logically Inferred Tuberculosis Transmission (LITT) algorithm to systematize the integration and analysis of whole-genome sequencing, clinical, and epidemiological data. Based on the work typically performed by hand during a cluster investigation, LITT identifies and ranks potential source cases for each case in a TB cluster.

COVID-19 Outbreak - New York City, February 29-June 1, 2020.

New York City (NYC) was an epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the United States during spring 2020 (1). During March-May 2020, approximately 203,000 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). To obtain more complete data, DOHMH used supplementary information sources and relied on direct data importation and matching of patient identifiers for data on hospitalization status, the occurrence of death, race/ethnicity, and presence of underlying medical conditions.

Risk factors for healthcare-associated, laboratory-confirmed influenza in hospitalized pediatric patients: a case-control study.

We conducted a case-control study of 46 hospitalized pediatric patients with healthcare-associated laboratory-confirmed influenza (HA-LCI). We sought to determine the characteristics and outcomes of children with HA-LCI and to identify risk factors for HA-LCI. Although we failed to identify any differences in clinical exposures during the 3 days prior to onset of HA-LCI, multivariate analysis showed that asthma was an independent risk factor for HA-LCI (odds ratio, 3.