Atypical progeroid syndromes (APS) are premature aging syndromes caused by pathogenic LMNA missense variants, associated with unaltered expression levels of lamins A and C, without accumulation of wild-type or deleted prelamin A isoforms, as observed in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) or HGPS-like syndromes. A specific LMNA missense variant, (p.Thr528Met), was previously identified in a compound heterozygous state in patients affected by APS and severe familial partial lipodystrophy, whereas heterozygosity was recently identified in patients affected by Type 2 familial partial lipodystrophy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisaster Med Public Health Prep
June 2022
Objective: In March 2018, the US Department of Defense (DOD) added the smallpox vaccination, using ACAM2000, to its routine immunizations, increasing the number of persons receiving the vaccine. The following month, Fort Hood reported a cluster of 5 myopericarditis cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the DOD launched an investigation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Knowledge of the contemporary epidemiology of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among military personnel can inform potential Department of Defense (DoD) screening policy and infection and disease control strategies.
Materials And Methods: HBV infection status at accession and following deployment was determined by evaluating reposed serum from 10,000 service members recently deployed to combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the period from 2007 to 2010. A cost model was developed from the perspective of the Department of Defense for a program to integrate HBV infection screening of applicants for military service into the existing screening program of screening new accessions for vaccine-preventable infections.
Introduction: Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp) is a bacterium that causes pneumonia and other respiratory diseases. Fever may be present early but absent by time of presentation to clinic. Increases in X-ray-confirmed pneumonia (XCP) and laboratory-confirmed Cp infections were observed in new soldiers in training at Fort Leonard Wood (FLW), Missouri, early in 2014.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 1 (AOA1) is an autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia due to mutations in the aprataxin gene (APTX) that is characterized by early-onset cerebellar ataxia, oculomotor apraxia, axonal motor neuropathy, and eventual decrease of albumin serum levels.
Objectives: To improve the clinical, biomarker, and molecular delineation of AOA1 and provide genotype-phenotype correlations.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective analysis included the clinical, biological (especially regarding biomarkers of the disease), electrophysiologic, imaging, and molecular data of all patients consecutively diagnosed with AOA1 in a single genetics laboratory from January 1, 2002, through December 31, 2014.
Introduction: Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) affect primarily young people (17-24 years). The U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHistory has taught us that the threat of communicable diseases to operational readiness should not be underestimated. The unique operational challenges of a decade at war in Southwest Asia have left us with many new lessons about prevention and mitigation of disease. The successes of military immunization programs demonstrated the successful application of military science to modern combat.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisease and nonbattle injury (DNBI) are the leading causes of morbidity during wars and military operations. However, adequate medical data were never before available to service public health centers to conduct DNBI surveillance during deployments. This article describes the process, results and lessons learned from centralized DNBI surveillance by the US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, predecessor of the US Army Public Health Command, during operations in Afghanistan and Iraq (2001-2013).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCentralized HIV program oversight and repeal of the Department of Defense policy "Don't Ask Don't Tell" permitted characterization of HIV transmission among soldiers assigned to a large US Army base continental United States from 2012 to 2013. An investigation of a greater than expected number of new HIV infections among soldiers was initiated to characterize transmission and identify opportunities to disrupt transmission and deliver services.All soldiers who were assigned to the base at the time of their first positive HIV test and who had their first positive HIV test in 2012 or in the first 6 months of 2013 and who had a clinical genotype available for analysis were eligible for inclusion in the investigation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Knowledge of the contemporary epidemiology of hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection among military personnel can inform potential Department of Defense screening policy. HCV infection status at the time of accession and following deployment was determined by evaluating reposed serum from 10,000 service members recently deployed to combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the period 2007-2010. A cost model was developed from the perspective of the Department of Defense for a military applicant screening program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Acquir Immune Defic Syndr
December 2015
The United States (US) Army implemented a comprehensive HIV characterization program in 2012 following repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy banning openly homosexual individuals from serving in the US military. Program staff administered a standardized case report form to soldiers newly diagnosed with HIV from 2012 to 2014 in compliance with new program requirements. The case report form documented sociodemographic, sexual, and other risk behavior information elicited from US Army regulation-mandated epidemiologic interviews at initial HIV notification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZoonoses Public Health
December 2014
This article describes and contrasts the public health response to two human rabies cases: one organ recipient diagnosed within days of symptom onset and the transplant donor who was diagnosed 18 months post-symptom onset. In response to an organ-transplant-related rabies case diagnosed in 2013, organ donor and recipient investigations were conducted by multiple public health agencies. Persons with potential exposure to infectious patient materials were assessed for rabies virus exposure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Effective measures are needed to prevent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) in high-risk community settings. The study objective was to evaluate the effect of personal hygiene-based strategies on rates of overall SSTI and MRSA SSTI.
Methods: We conducted a prospective, field-based, cluster-randomized trial in US Army Infantry trainees from May 2010 through January 2012.
Background: Increasing numbers of Staphylococcus aureus infections demonstrate antibiotic resistance. Military populations experiencing crowding are at increased risk of community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOf 26 cases of malaria reported among active component U.S. Army personnel during January through September 2012, 16 were laboratory-confirmed according to electronic medical records.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/aims: The prevalence of epilepsy in Algeria is unknown. The aims of this multicenter transversal study were to determine the national prevalence and clinical characteristics of epilepsy in the Algerian population.
Methods: This two-phase study was conducted in 5 circumscriptions and included 8,046 subjects aged over 2 months who attended the randomly selected public and private primary care clinics.
Health threats place the military mission and deployed service members at risk. A commander's focus is on preventing acute health risks, such as diarrhea, because these quickly compromise the mission. However, in recent conflicts chronic and long-term illness risks have emerged as concerns.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo assess the burden of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) in a high-risk population, the monthly incidence of laboratory-confirmed MRSA in service members/trainees stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA without hospitalization or surgery documented 30 days prior to infection was calculated for calendar years 2002-2007. Clinical management and antibiotic susceptibility patterns were also evaluated. By 2007, approximately 67% of S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMalaria was eradicated and the Republic of Korea (ROK) declared "malaria free" in 1979. However, in 1993, a temperate strain of vivax malaria, expressing both latent and nonlatent disease populations, re-emerged near the demilitarized zone (DMZ), rapidly spread to civilian sectors near the DMZ, and increased exponentially in ROK military, veteran, and civilian populations through 1998. Malaria among all ROK populations decreased 5-fold from a high of 4142 cases in 2000 to a low of 826 cases in 2004, before increasing again to 2180 cases by 2007.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMalaria is a significant health threat to U.S. combat forces that are deployed to malaria-endemic regions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVivax malaria reemerged in the Republic of Korea in 1993. Most of the cases occurred among soldiers in the region adjacent to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) until 1995. To determine the rate of dispersion of vivax malaria, we evaluated its epidemiologic characteristics.
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