Publications by authors named "Walid Q Alali"

Antibiotic resistance (AR) is a critical global health threat exacerbated by complex human-animal-environment interactions. Aquatic environments, particularly surface water systems, can serve as reservoirs and transmission routes for AR bacteria. This study investigated the prevalence of AR in Sinking Creek, a pathogen-impacted creek in Northeast Tennessee.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

: This study examines trends in county-level vaccination coverage before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic among children aged 2-3 and 4-6 years in Tennessee, with a focus on rurality; : Data from the Tennessee Immunization Information System (January 2017 to September 2023) were analyzed for vaccination coverage in children in both age groups. The study categorized the COVID-19 pandemic into three periods: pre-pandemic (P1: January 2017 to December 2019), stay-at-home (P2: January 2020 to May 2021), and reopening (P3: June 2021 to September 2023). Vaccination trends were stratified by vaccine type, rurality, sex, race and ethnicity; : During P1, there were no significant changes in trends of vaccination coverage percentages in both rural and urban counties for both age groups.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Yellow Fever (YF) is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. Uganda is located within the Africa YF belt. Between 2019 and 2022, the Ugandan Health Authorities reported at least one outbreak of YF annually with an estimated 892 suspected cases, on average per year.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Food safety remains a significant global public health concern, with the risk of unsafe food varying worldwide. The economies of several low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) heavily rely on livestock, posing a challenge to ensuring the production of safe food. This review discusses our understanding of pre-harvest critical issues related to food safety in LMICs, specifically focusing on animal-derived food.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The study objective was to compare the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in clinical and isolates obtained from a secondary-care hospital prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kuwait.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted based on AMR profiles of clinical Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates. The AMR data represented isolates from five specimen types (body fluids; blood; respiratory; wound, bone, or other tissues; and urine) of patients admitted to four wards (surgical, medical, pediatric, and maternal-postnatal).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

is a major cause of foodborne disease outbreaks worldwide, mainly through poultry. Recently, there has been an increase in multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections globally. The increased drug resistance results in increased costs and poorer health outcomes due to unavailability or delayed treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The actual impact of the pandemic on COVID-19 specific mortality is still unclear due to the variability in access to diagnostic tools. This study aimed to estimate the excess all-cause mortality in Iran until September 2021 based on the national death statistics.

Results: The autoregressive integrated moving average was used to predict seasonal all-cause death in Iran (R-squared = 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Data on the prevalence of MCR-producing of animal origin are scarce from the Arabian Peninsula. We investigated the presence and variety of such strains from fecal specimens of poultry collected in four farms in the United Arab Emirates. Colonies from ten composite samples per farm grown on colistin-supplemented plates were PCR-screened for alleles of the gene.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The study objectives were to assess bromate concentrations in bottled drinking water sold at retail in Kuwait and assess pH values relationship to bromate concentrations. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 where 120 bottled water samples were collected from supermarkets across six governorates in Kuwait. Samples represented local brands that used distilled or mineral water as well as imported brands that used mineral water only.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Building an antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance system in a country requires analysis of available data on AMR in clinical isolates. This study's objective was to determine the AMR prevalence of Gram-negative bacterial (GNB) isolates cultured from clinical specimens at a major general hospital in Kuwait.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted on AMR profiles of GNB clinical isolates (n=5290) between January and December 2018.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Estimating vaccine effectiveness (VE) against severe, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among healthcare workers (HCWs) is necessary to demonstrate protection from the disease. Between 24 December 2020 and 15 June 2021, we determined the factors associated with vaccine coverage and estimated VE against SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCWs at a secondary hospital in Kuwait.

Methods: We extracted sociodemographic, occupational, SARS-CoV-2 infection, and vaccination data for eligible HCWs from the hospital records.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) are prone to develop nosocomial infections due to Multidrug-Resistant (MDR) organisms. Inappropriate and overuse of antibiotics play an important role in the emergence of MDR organisms, which cause life-threatening infections resulting in significant morbidity and mortality.

Methods: Retrospective surveillance-based study on healthcare-associated infections.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a World Health Organization designated pandemic that can result in severe symptoms and death that disproportionately affects older patients or those with comorbidities. Kuwait reported its first imported cases of COVID-19 on February 24, 2020. Analysis of data from the first three months of community transmission of the COVID-19 outbreak in Kuwait can provide important guidance for decision-making when dealing with future SARS-CoV-2 epidemic wave management.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aim: To estimate the epidemiological parameters related to the Covid-19 outbreak in Iran.

Background: Estimating the epidemiological parameters of new public health threat (COVID-19) is essential to support and inform public health decision-making in different communities including Iran.

Methods: We established a mathematical model to estimate the epidemiological parameters from 19 Feb to 15 March based on daily COVID-19 confirmed cases in Iran.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The application, timing, and duration of lockdown strategies during a pandemic remain poorly quantified with regards to expected public health outcomes. Previous projection models have reached conflicting conclusions about the effect of complete lockdowns on COVID-19 outcomes. We developed a stochastic continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) model with eight states including the environment (SEAMHQRD-V), and derived a formula for the basic reproduction number, R, for that model.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The emerging, often multidrug-resistant is increasingly being associated with outbreaks in healthcare facilities. Here we describe the molecular epidemiology of a outbreak during 18 months, which started in 2018 in the high dependency unit (HDU) of a secondary-care hospital in Kuwait. Demographic and clinical data for candidemia and colonized patients were prospectively recorded.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The study objective was to assess tobacco smoking prevalence in Kuwaiti adults in relation to sociodemographic characteristics. A cross-sectional study survey was conducted in 2014 on 3917 Kuwaiti citizens (18-69 years) following the World Health Organization (WHO) STEPwise Approach to Surveillance (STEPS) methodology. The study assessed prevalence of self-reported ever-smoking or currently smoking tobacco products and exposure to secondhand smoke in relation to demographic and smoking-related characteristics.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Abstract: The spread of antibiotic resistance among bacterial strains has been associated with consumption of food contaminated with both pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacteria. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli isolates in local and imported retail raw chicken meat in Qatar. A total of 270 locally produced (chilled) and imported (chilled or frozen) whole chicken carcasses were obtained from three Hypermarket stores in Qatar.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

is a leading waterborne pathogenic bacterium worldwide. It can cause human cholera that is still pandemic in developing nations. Detection of .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To enhance efforts related to controlling foodborne pathogens in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), information on epidemiology of non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica (hereafter termed "Salmonella") is limited. We quantified the overall regional and country-specific Salmonella prevalence in different human populations and identified the most common serotypes. Published literature of Salmonella prevalence was systematically reviewed and reported following the Preferred Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: It is well documented that food handlers harbor and shed enteric foodborne pathogens causing foodborne disease outbreaks. However, little known on enteric antibiotic resistant (AR) bacteria carriage in food handlers. The objective of this study was to establish a baseline prevalence of fecal AR among food handlers in Qatar.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs)-producing Salmonella is a tremendous hazard to food safety and public health. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of 30 virulence genes (avrA, sipA, sseC, marT, rhuM, siiE, pipA, pipD, envR, gogB, gtgA, sodC1, sseI, irsA, sopE2, spvC, rck, spvR, fhuA, msgA, pagK, srfj, stkc, fimA, lpfD, pefA, stcC, steB, stjB, and tcfA) in 156 ESBLs-producing Salmonella isolates that belonged to 21 serotypes. These isolates were recovered from retail raw chicken samples collected from 5 provinces and 2 national cities in China between 2007 and 2012.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

One thousand four hundred ninety-one Salmonella isolates recovered from retail foods including chicken, beef, fish, pork, dumplings, and cold dishes in China in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012 were analyzed for distribution of serotype and antimicrobial susceptibility. A total of 129 Salmonella serotypes were detected among 1491 isolates. Salmonella Enteritidis (21.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on the presence and characterization of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Salmonella in retail chicken products in China, revealing that 10.8% of 890 samples were ESBL producers.
  • Among the identified isolates, 57.3% carried the ESBL gene (bla), with many also harboring additional resistance and virulence genes, indicating significant genetic variability.
  • Findings highlight high minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for crucial antibiotics and the presence of multiple virulence genes, underscoring the public health threat posed by these bacterial pathogens in the food supply.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF