Publications by authors named "Miriam Shiferaw"

Article Synopsis
  • During the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC provided real-time telephone consultations to healthcare providers and public health officials from March to July 2020, aiming to assist with inquiries related to the crisis.
  • A total of 3,154 inquiries were documented, with significant contributions from frontline healthcare workers (62%) and local health departments (14%).
  • Most inquiries were focused on the roles of healthcare workers (27.7%) and understanding CDC guidelines (44%), highlighting the demand for clear communication during public health emergencies.
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Background: Timely and appropriate administration of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is an essential component of human rabies prevention programs. We evaluated patient care at rabies clinics in a high-risk county in Hunan Province, China to inform strategies needed to achieve dog-mediated human rabies elimination by 2030.

Methods: We collected information on PEP, staff capacity, and service availability at the 17 rabies clinics in the high-risk county during onsite visits and key staff interviews.

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Ethiopia is one of the African countries most affected by rabies. A coarse catalog of rabies viruses (RABV) was created as a benchmark to assess the impact of control and elimination activities. We evaluated a 726 bp amplicon at the end of the N-gene to infer viral lineages in circulation using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods for phylogenetic reconstruction.

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Article Synopsis
  • Canine rabies is a major health issue in Ethiopia, particularly in Addis Ababa, with a study examining barriers to dog vaccination through surveys of dog owners during free vaccination programs in 2017.
  • Results showed that while 62.4% of dog owners had vaccinated their pets in the past year, common barriers included a lack of awareness about the need for vaccination and where to access it.
  • Despite a majority being willing to pay for a vaccination, many were unwilling to travel, highlighting the need for more accessible and affordable vaccination options to meet the target for rabies elimination.
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On May 9, 2017, the Virginia Department of Health was notified regarding a patient with suspected rabies. The patient had sustained a dog bite 6 weeks before symptom onset while traveling in India. On May 11, CDC confirmed that the patient was infected with a rabies virus that circulates in dogs in India.

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Preventing zoonotic diseases requires coordinated actions by government authorities responsible for human and animal health. Constructing the frameworks needed to foster intersectoral collaboration can be approached in many ways. We highlight 3 examples of approaches to implement zoonotic disease prevention and control programs.

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Rabies is an encephalitic disease that is nearly always fatal after onset of illness. Worldwide, rabies kills an estimated 59,000 humans each year (95% confidence interval [CI] = 25,000-159,000); the majority of the deaths are caused by the rabies virus variant that circulates in dogs (1,2). Canine rabies is endemic in Ethiopia, with an estimated 2,771 human deaths annually (CI = 1,116-12,660) (1-3).

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On September 18, 2014, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MDHSS) was notified of a suspected rabies case in a Missouri resident. The patient, a man aged 52 years, lived in a rural, deeply wooded area, and bat sightings in and around his home were anecdotally reported. Exposure to bats poses a risk for rabies.

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Most PRKAR1A tumorigenic mutations lead to nonsense mRNA that is decayed; tumor formation has been associated with an increase in type II protein kinase A (PKA) subunits. The IVS6+1G>T PRKAR1A mutation leads to a protein lacking exon 6 sequences [R1 alpha Delta 184-236 (R1 alpha Delta 6)]. We compared in vitro R1 alpha Delta 6 with wild-type (wt) R1 alpha.

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Carney complex (CNC) is caused by PRKAR1A-inactivating mutations. PRKAR1A encodes the regulatory subunit type I-alpha (RIalpha) of the cAMP-dependent kinase (PKA) holoenzyme; how RIalpha insufficiency leads to tumorigenesis remains unclear. In many cells PKA inhibits the extracellular receptor kinase (ERK1/2) cascade of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway leading to inhibition of cell proliferation.

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