Publications by authors named "Myriam Fayad"
Background: During 2020-2021, in the context of increasing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the general population, French authorities made the decision to keep schools open and set up massive screening campaigns for students. Here, we describe the impact of this strategy on the circulation of SARS-COV-2 among children and adolescents during this period.
Methods: We analyzed SARS-COV-2 surveillance data provided by the French National Public Health Agency for the 2020-2021 school year along with the results of school-based screening campaigns implemented by the Ministry of National Education.
Objectives: The aim was to estimate the effect of reported history of smallpox vaccination prior to 1980 on clinical expression of mpox.
Methods: We included all confirmed mpox cases identified by the national mpox surveillance system in France between May and July 2022. Cases tested positive for monkeypox virus or orthopoxviruses by PCR.
Article Synopsis
- The mpox epidemic in France, which saw an increase in locally-acquired cases starting in May 2022, was analyzed through data collected until September 2022.
- A total of 4,856 cases were reported, primarily affecting male individuals aged 15 and older, with specific demographic changes noted over the summer months.
- The study observed a decline in the number of cases attending men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) venues and a reduction in sexual partners, which may reflect shifts in behavior and virus transmission dynamics.
Article Synopsis
- International comparisons of COVID-19 incidence rates offer insights into disease characteristics and inform public health policies, but can be biased due to differences in surveillance systems among countries.
- Data was collected from six European countries (Belgium, England, France, Italy, Romania, Sweden) to analyze their COVID-19 testing and reporting methods, revealing significant differences in testing rates and access to testing.
- Incorporating testing data into incidence rate comparisons and using alternative indicators like death or hospitalization rates could enhance the accuracy of international comparisons.
Article Synopsis
- The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, and this study aimed to assess the disease's impact in France for that year using a measure called disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
- The analysis utilized national data on mortality, hospital admissions, and screening, estimating a total of 990,710 DALYs lost in France in 2020, with 99% attributed to mortality and a small percentage to morbidity from symptomatic cases.
- The findings highlighted that post-acute consequences significantly affected health outcomes, especially among younger people under 70, while the majority of life years lost occurred in individuals aged 70 and older.
Since the first reports in summer 2020, SARS-CoV-2 reinfections have raised concerns about the immunogenicity of the virus, which will affect SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology and possibly the burden of COVID-19 on our societies in the future. This study provides data on the frequency and characteristics of possible reinfections, using the French national COVID-19 testing database. The Omicron variant had a large impact on the frequency of possible reinfections in France, which represented 3.
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