A Multilingual Tool for Standardized Laboratory Biosafety and Biosecurity Assessment and Monitoring.

Control of infectious diseases requires the handling of infectious materials by both clinical and public health laboratories with exposure risks for laboratory personnel and environment. A comprehensive tool for assessing the capacity to manage these risks could enable the development of action plans for mitigation. Under the framework of the Global Health Security Agenda action package for biosafety and biosecurity, the authors developed a tool dedicated to assessing laboratory biosafety and biosecurity.

Strengthening laboratory biosafety in Liberia during the COVID-19 pandemic: Experience from the Global Laboratory Leadership Programme.

Background: The Global Laboratory Leadership Programme (GLLP) has biosafety and biosecurity as one of its core competencies and advocates for a One Health approach involving all relevant sectors across the human-animal-environment interface to empower national laboratory systems and strengthen health security. Decentralization of SARS-CoV-2 testing in Liberia coupled with an increase in the number of COVID-19 infections among laboratory professionals raised biosafety concerns. In response, a set of trainings on laboratory biosafety was launched for lab personnel across the country under the framework of the GLLP.

Burden of Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli in Santa Rosa, Guatemala in active health-services surveillance during 2008-2009 and 2014-2015.

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of laboratory-confirmed Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) cases from active facility-based surveillance in Guatemala.

Methods: We collected clinical and risk factor data on enrolled patients (aged 0-52 years) with acute diarrhoea at government healthcare facilities (1 hospital and 6 clinics) in Santa Rosa, Guatemala, during 2008-2009 and 2014-2015. Stool samples were analysed, E.

National Biosafety Management System: A Combined Framework Approach Based on 15 Key Elements.

The pervasive nature of infections causing major outbreaks have elevated biosafety and biosecurity as a fundamental component for resilient national laboratory systems. In response to international health security demands, the Global Health Security Agenda emphasizes biosafety as one of the prerequisites to respond effectively to infectious disease threats. However, biosafety management systems (BMS) in low-medium income countries (LMIC) remain weak due to fragmented implementation strategies.

Hospitalization and death among patients with influenza, Guatemala, 2008-2012.

Background: Influenza is a major cause of respiratory illness resulting in 3-5 million severe cases and 291,243-645,832 deaths annually. Substantial health and financial burden may be averted by annual influenza vaccine application, especially for high risk groups.

Methods: We used an active facility-based surveillance platform for acute respiratory diseases in three hospitals in Guatemala, Central America, to estimate the incidence of laboratory-confirmed hospitalized influenza cases and identify risk factors associated with severe disease (defined as admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) or death).

Identification of Gram negative non-fermentative bacteria: How hard can it be?

Introduction: The prevalence of bacteremia caused by Gram negative non-fermentative (GNNF) bacteria has been increasing globally over the past decade. Many studies have investigated their epidemiology but focus on the common GNNF including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. Knowledge of the uncommon GNNF bacteremias is very limited.

Factors associated with fatal cases of acute respiratory infection (ARI) among hospitalized patients in Guatemala.

Background: Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is an important cause of mortality in children and adults. However, studies assessing risk factors for ARI-related deaths in low- and middle-income settings are limited. We describe ARI-related death and associated factors among children aged < 2 years and adults aged ≥18 years hospitalized with ARI in Guatemala.

Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, Where Is the L-Track?

Modifications of the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) curricula to include a laboratory track (L-Track), to become Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP), began in 2004 in Kenya. The L-Track offered candidates training on laboratory competencies in management, policy, quality systems, and diagnostic methods as well as epidemiology, disease surveillance and outbreak response. Since then several FELTPs have discontinued the L-Track and instead offer all candidates, epidemiologists and laboratorians, a single FETP curriculum.

Diversity and phylogenetic relationships among Bartonella strains from Thai bats.

Bartonellae are phylogenetically diverse, intracellular bacteria commonly found in mammals. Previous studies have demonstrated that bats have a high prevalence and diversity of Bartonella infections globally. Isolates (n = 42) were obtained from five bat species in four provinces of Thailand and analyzed using sequences of the citrate synthase gene (gltA).

Outbreak Investigation of Malaria in a Region of Guatemala Targeted for Malaria Elimination.

AbstractThe Department of Santa Rosa, Guatemala, is targeted for malaria elimination. However, compared with 2011, a 13-fold increase in cases was reported in 2012. To describe the epidemiology of malaria in Santa Rosa in the setting of the apparent outbreak, demographic and microscopic data from 2008 to 2013 were analyzed.

Coexistence of Bartonella henselae and B. clarridgeiae in populations of cats and their fleas in Guatemala.

Cats and their fleas collected in Guatemala were investigated for the presence of Bartonella infections. Bartonella bacteria were cultured from 8.2% (13/159) of cats, and all cultures were identified as B.

First imported Plasmodium ovale malaria in Central America: case report of a Guatemalan soldier and a call to improve its accurate diagnosis.

The Mesoamerican Ministers of Health have set 2020 as the target for malaria elimination to be achieved in the region. Imported malaria cases are a potential threat to countries attempting elimination or working to prevent resurgence. We report the first imported Plasmodium ovale infection with molecular confirmation in Central America, which occurred in a Guatemalan soldier that had been deployed in Africa.

Antibody response of cattle to vaccination with commercial modified live rabies vaccines in Guatemala.

Vampire bat rabies is a public and animal health concern throughout Latin America. As part of an ecological study of vampire bat depredation on cattle in southern Guatemala, we conducted a vaccine seroconversion study among three dairy farms. The main objectives of this cross sectional and cohort study were to understand factors associated with bat bites among cattle, to determine whether unvaccinated cattle had evidence of rabies virus exposure and evaluate whether exposure was related to bat bite prevalence, and to assess whether cattle demonstrate adequate seroconversion to two commercial vaccines used in Guatemala.

Bat rabies in Guatemala.

Rabies in bats is considered enzootic throughout the New World, but few comparative data are available for most countries in the region. As part of a larger pathogen detection program, enhanced bat rabies surveillance was conducted in Guatemala, between 2009 and 2011. A total of 672 bats of 31 species were sampled and tested for rabies.

Strengthening public health laboratory capacity in Thailand for International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005).

Introduction: Thailand conducted a national laboratory assessment of core capacities related to the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005), and thereby established a baseline to measure future progress. The assessment was limited to public laboratories found within the Thai Bureau of Quality and Safety of Food, National Institute of Health and regional medical science centres.

Methods: The World Health Organization (WHO) laboratory assessment tool was adapted to Thailand through a participatory approach.

Rabies death attributed to exposure in Central America with symptom onset in a U.S. detention facility - Texas, 2013.

On June 7, 2013, a man was diagnosed in a Texas hospital with rabies. He had been detained in a U.S.

Pneumococcal Bacteremia Requiring Hospitalization in Rural Thailand: An Update on Incidence, Clinical Characteristics, Serotype Distribution, and Antimicrobial Susceptibility, 2005-2010.

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in Southeast Asia, but regional data is limited. Updated burden estimates are critical as pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) is highly effective, but not yet included in the Expanded Program on Immunization of Thailand or neighboring countries.

Methods: We implemented automated blood culture systems in two rural Thailand provinces as part of population-based surveillance for bacteremia.

Incidence and epidemiology of hospitalized influenza cases in rural Thailand during the influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 pandemic, 2009-2010.

Background: Data on the burden of the 2009 influenza pandemic in Asia are limited. Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 was first reported in Thailand in May 2009. We assessed incidence and epidemiology of influenza-associated hospitalizations during 2009-2010.

Bartonella vinsonii subsp. arupensis in humans, Thailand.

We identified Bartonella vinsonii subsp. arupensis in pre-enriched blood of 4 patients from Thailand. Nucleotide sequences for transfer-messenger RNA gene, citrate synthase gene, and the 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer were identical or closely related to those for the strain that has been considered pathogenic since initially isolated from a human in Wyoming, USA.

Survey of legionella species found in thai soil.

Members of the Gram-negative genus Legionella are typically found in freshwater environments, with the exception of L. longbeachae, which is present in composts and potting mixes. When contaminated aerosols are inhaled, legionellosis may result, typically as either the more serious pneumonia Legionnaires' disease or the less severe flu-like illness Pontiac fever.

High prevalence of cryptococcal infection among HIV-infected patients hospitalized with pneumonia in Thailand.

Background: Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) is a major cause of death among HIV-infected patients. Cryptococcal antigenemia (CrAg+) in the absence of CM can represent early-stage cryptococcosis during which antifungal treatment might improve outcomes. However, patients without meningitis are rarely tested for cryptococcal infection.

Rabies-related knowledge and practices among persons at risk of bat exposures in Thailand.

Background: Rabies is a fatal encephalitis caused by lyssaviruses. Evidence of lyssavirus circulation has recently emerged in Southeast Asian bats. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Thailand to assess rabies-related knowledge and practices among persons regularly exposed to bats and bat habitats.