Trends and disparities in deaths among young persons in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: To examine changes in death rates by demographic group and by the leading causes of death in U.S. persons 1 to 24 years of age during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Characteristics Associated With US Adults' Self-Reported COVID-19 Protective Behaviors When Getting Food From Restaurants, Winter 2021.

Objectives: Visiting restaurants and bars, particularly when doing so indoors, can increase transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, among people who are not fully vaccinated. We aimed to understand US adults' self-reported protective behaviors when getting food from restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic when vaccines were not widely available.

Methods: We used online nationwide survey data from January 2021 to assess self-reported restaurant-related behaviors of respondents (n = 502).

Sustainability of health information systems: a three-country qualitative study in southern Africa.

Background: Health information systems are central to strong health systems. They assist with patient and program management, quality improvement, disease surveillance, and strategic use of information. Many donors have worked to improve health information systems, particularly by supporting the introduction of electronic health information systems (EHIS), which are considered more responsive and more efficient than older, paper-based systems.

Development of a framework to measure health profession regulation strengthening.

This paper describes the development of a framework to evaluate the progress and impact of a multi-year US government initiative to strengthen nursing and midwifery professional regulation in sub-Saharan Africa. The framework was designed as a capability maturity model, which is a stepwise series of performance levels that describe the sophistication of processes necessary to achieve an organization's objectives. A model from the field of software design was adapted to comprise the key functions of a nursing and midwifery regulatory body and describe five stages of advancing each function.

The national inventory of core capabilities for pandemic influenza preparedness and response: an instrument for planning and evaluation.

Background: Reviews of the global response to the 2009 pandemic of influenza A/H1N1 affirmed the importance of assessment of preparedness and response capabilities.

Design: The U. S.

Global health surveillance.

Awareness of the importance of global health surveillance increased in the latter part of the 20th century with the global emergence of human immunodeficiency virus and novel strains of influenza. In the first decade of the 21st century, several events further highlighted global shared interests in and vulnerability to infectious diseases. Bioterrorist use of anthrax spores in 2001 raised awareness of the value of public health surveillance for national security.

Young women and their reproductive health needs in a family practice setting: factors influencing care seeking in Vitoria, Brazil.

Background: Young women often have diverse options for addressing their reproductive health and other health needs in urban settings. In Brazil, they may access care through the government-run Family Health Program (FHP). Understanding factors associated with service utilization can enhance access to and delivery of appropriate services.

Beyond monogamy: opportunities to further reduce risk for HIV infection among married Zimbabwean women with only one lifetime partner.

The main objective of this paper was to identify HIV risk factors at the individual, partner, and partnership levels among married, lifetime monogamous women in a nationally representative sample of Zimbabweans aged 15-29 years. Cross-sectional data were collected through individual survey interviews among 1,286 women who provided blood for HIV testing. The HIV prevalence among these women was high (21.

Increasing leadership capacity for HIV/AIDS programmes by strengthening public health epidemiology and management training in Zimbabwe.

Background: Increased funding for global human immunodeficiency virus prevention and control in developing countries has created both a challenge and an opportunity for achieving long-term global health goals. This paper describes a programme in Zimbabwe aimed at responding more effectively to the HIV/AIDS epidemic by reinforcing a critical competence-based training institution and producing public health leaders.

Methods: The programme used new HIV/AIDS programme-specific funds to build on the assets of a local education institution to strengthen and expand the general public health leadership capacity in Zimbabwe, simultaneously ensuring that they were trained in HIV interventions.

Climate change: impacts on and implications for global health.

The most severe consequences of climate change will accrue to the poorest people in the poorest countries, despite their own negligible contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, global health efforts in those same countries have grown dramatically. However, the emerging scientific consensus about climate change has not yet had much influence on the routine practice and strategies of global health.

Response rates for providing a blood specimen for HIV testing in a population-based survey of young adults in Zimbabwe.

Background: To determine differences among persons who provided blood specimens for HIV testing compared with those who did not among those interviewed for the population-based Zimbabwe Young Adult Survey (YAS).

Methods: Chi-square analysis of weighted data to compare demographic and behavioral data of persons interviewed who provided specimens for anonymous testing with those who did not. Prevalence estimation to determine the impact if persons not providing specimens had higher prevalence rates than those who did.

Developing a nursing database system in Kenya.

Objective: To describe the development, initial findings, and implications of a national nursing workforce database system in Kenya.

Principal Findings: Creating a national electronic nursing workforce database provides more reliable information on nurse demographics, migration patterns, and workforce capacity. Data analyses are most useful for human resources for health (HRH) planning when workforce capacity data can be linked to worksite staffing requirements.

Factors associated with HIV infection in adolescent females in Zimbabwe.

Purpose: To identify factors associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among adolescent females in Zimbabwe and appropriate prevention strategies for this vulnerable population.

Methods: A total of 1807 females aged 15-19 years completed a questionnaire and provided a blood sample for HIV testing as part of a nationally representative survey. Associations between HIV infection and factors operating at the individual, household, partner and community levels, as well as sexual behavior, were explored through bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Trends in pelvic inflammatory disease hospital discharges and ambulatory visits, United States, 1985-2001.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the estimated trends in incidence of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) among reproductive-aged women in hospital and ambulatory settings.

Study: Analyses of PID estimates were performed. Three nationally representative surveys conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS): National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS), National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), and National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), were used to obtain the estimates of PID (defined by International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision codes).

Divergent HIV and simian immunodeficiency virus surveillance, Zaire.

Recent HIV infection or divergent HIV or simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) strains may be responsible for Western blot-indeterminate results on 70 serum samples from Zairian hospital employees that were reactive in an enzyme immunoassay. Using universal polymerase chain reaction HIV-1, HIV-2, and SIV primers, we detected 1 (1.4%) HIV-1 sequence.

Impact of patient characteristics on performance of nucleic acid amplification tests and DNA probe for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in women with genital infections.

The performance of nucleic acid amplified tests (NAAT) for Chlamydia trachomatis at the cervix and in urine was examined in 3,551 women, and the impacts of clinical findings (age, endocervical and urethral inflammation, menses, and gonococcal coinfection) were assessed. Ligase chain reaction (LCR) and first-generation uniplex PCR were studied relative to an unamplified DNA probe (PACE2) and to an expanded, independent diagnostic reference standard. Relative to the expanded standard, cervical or urine LCR was generally the most sensitive test in most subgroups.

Recombinant viruses and early global HIV-1 epidemic.

Central Africa was the epicenter of the HIV type 1 (HIV-1) pandemic. Understanding the early epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, could provide insight into how HIV evolved and assist vaccine design and intervention efforts. Using enzyme immunosorbent assays, we tested 3,988 serum samples collected in Kinshasa in the mid-1980s and confirmed seroreactivity by Western blot.

Head-to-head multicenter comparison of DNA probe and nucleic acid amplification tests for Chlamydia trachomatis infection in women performed with an improved reference standard.

Few evaluations of tests for Chlamydia trachomatis have compared nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) with diagnostic tests other than those by culture. In a five-city study of 3,551 women, we compared the results of commercial ligase chain reaction (LCR) and PCR tests performed on cervical swabs and urine with the results of PACE 2 tests performed on cervical swabs, using independent reference standards that included both cervical swabs and urethral swab-urine specimens. Using cervical culture as a standard, the sensitivities of PACE 2, LCR, and PCR tests with cervical specimens were 78.

Risk behaviors, medical care, and chlamydial infection among young men in the United States.

Objectives: This study assessed factors related to chlamydial infection among young men in the United States.

Methods: Data were from interviews of nationally representative samples of 470 men aged 18 to 19 years (teenagers) and 995 men aged 22 to 26 years (young adults) and from urine specimens tested by means of polymerase chain reaction.

Results: Although a majority of the men reported occasional unprotected intercourse, only a minority perceived themselves to be at risk for contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD).

Mortality associated with congenital syphilis in the United States, 1992-1998.

Objective: To summarize national trends in the incidence of congenital syphilis (CS) and associated mortality.

Methods: We analyzed CS surveillance data reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1992-1998.

Results: From 1992-1998, 942 deaths, including 760 stillbirths, were reported among 14 627 cases of CS, yielding a case fatality ratio (stillborns and deaths/all cases) of 6.

A pseudo-outbreak of Chlamydia trachomatis in a state residential facility: implications for diagnostic testing.

In December 1998, an outbreak of Chlamydia trachomatis genital infections was reported among 18 residents of a state residential facility housing 392 mentally retarded clients. The initial patient tested positive by ligase chain reaction (LCR); 17 others tested positive by culture. Serologic test results for C.

Relative and interacting effects of sex, race, and environment upon body cell mass in healthy adults.

Most epidemiologic studies in nutrition have concentrated on body fat and obesity because of associated health risks, while few studies have examined factors that influence body cell mass (BCM). The relative influences of sex, race, environment, and age upon BCM were compared by analyzing the results of bioimpedance analyses in two cohorts of 1094 healthy adults, including Africans in Zaire, plus African Americans and Caucasians in New York City. Men were taller, heavier, and had a larger BCM and fat-free mass (FFM) than women, while women had more fat than men.