Communicable Disease News and Research

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Communicable Disease is a disease capable of being transmitted from an infected person or species to a susceptible host.

Assessing child and caregiver mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

A new study describes child and caregiver mental health during a one-year period.

31 Aug 2021

Researchers urge neurologists to actively encourage vaccinations for Parkinson's patients

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) are at higher risk for vaccine-preventable respiratory illnesses. However, patients with advanced PD may have less access to vaccinations according to a new study published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease.

30 Aug 2021

Study examines safety of COVID-19 vaccine in a nationwide mass-vaccination setting

The Clalit Research Institute, in collaboration with researchers from Harvard University, analyzed one of the world's largest integrated health record databases to examine the safety of the Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162B2 vaccine against COVID-19.

27 Aug 2021

Researchers explore how to optimally control diseases in prison population using rapid tests

The use of rapid tests to screen for diseases in prisons could enable the diagnosis of asymptomatic individuals and reduce the spread of infection. Victor Riquelme, Pedro Gajardo, and Diego Vicencio (all from the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María in Chile) recently explored how to optimally control a communicable disease inside a prison population using inexpensive, low-complexity rapid tests that personnel can administer with only basic training.

25 Aug 2021

Study reveals trends in hypertension prevalence and progress in treatment over the past 30 years

Over the past 30 years, the number of adults (aged 30-79 years) living with hypertension worldwide has doubled—rising from an estimated 331 million women and 317 million men in 1990, to 626 million women and 652 million men in 2019, with most of this increase occurring in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

24 Aug 2021

Study finds disparities in COVID-19 infection, mortality rates among Orange County residents

Socioeconomic, geographic and demographic factors all played critical roles in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 mortality among Orange County residents last year, according to a study led by the University of California, Irvine.

20 Aug 2021

Risk factors for hospitalization among HIV patients infected with SARS-CoV-2

The hospitalization of PWH with COVID-19 is related to host factors such as older age and co-morbidities, rather than due to traditional metrics of HIV.

11 Aug 2021

Study explores why COVID-19 lockdown does not work in Africa as first pandemic response

In an African pandemic it is more productive to consider lockdowns, after using other non-medical measures first, Especially in countries with high levels of poverty and corruption, says Prof Nicholas Ngepah, a Professor of Economics at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

28 Jul 2021

Diagnosis and management of COVID-19 in clinical settings

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has spread throughout the globe and much time has passed since it was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).

14 Jul 2021

Researchers device action plan to address musculoskeletal health issues

An international research team has found that despite being the world's leading cause of pain, disability, and healthcare expenditure, the prevention and management of musculoskeletal health, including conditions such as low back pain, fractures, arthritis, and osteoporosis, is globally under-prioritized and have devised an action plan to address this gap.

8 Jul 2021

Unprecedented lobbying effort scores big win for California public health

After more than a decade of fruitless entreaties from public health advocates, Democratic lawmakers have secured a landmark agreement that promises $300 million a year in new state funding to fortify and reimagine California's hollowed-out public health system, a complex network of services shouldered largely by the state's 61 local health departments.

2 Jul 2021

New program reveals high burden of undiagnosed or poorly controlled diseases in rural South Africa

A comprehensive health-screening program in rural northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, has found a high burden of undiagnosed or poorly controlled non-communicable diseases, according to a study published in The Lancet Global Health.

21 Jun 2021

Deep learning could transform the ability to accurately interpret HIV test results

Pioneering technology developed by UCL and Africa Health Research Institute researchers could transform the ability to accurately interpret HIV test results, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

18 Jun 2021

New method gives an accurate real-time estimate of epidemic trajectories

A new method to monitor epidemics like COVID-19 gives an accurate real-time estimate of the growth rate of an epidemic by carefully evaluating the relationship between the amount of viruses in infected people's bodies, called the viral load, and how fast the number of cases is increasing or decreasing.

3 Jun 2021

Could semen quality indicate SARS-CoV-2 insult susceptibility in polluted areas?

In a recent review in Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Italian researchers focused on “the evidence that correlates the degree and type of pollution with the increased susceptibility of many countries to this pandemic and proposes human semen as an early marker of the environmental health and the general health of individuals.” Their observations are based on a robust body of experimental evidence.

2 Jun 2021

Despite pandemic, Newsom declines to boost local public health budgets — again

In spite of a pandemic that has killed about 62,000 Californians — more than enough to pack Dodger Stadium — Gov. Gavin Newsom has again declined to boost the budgets of the state's underfunded and understaffed local public health departments.

20 May 2021

Salesforce, Google, Facebook. How big tech undermines California’s public health system.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has embraced Silicon Valley tech companies and health care industry titans in response to the covid-19 pandemic like no other governor in America — routinely outsourcing life-or-death public health duties to his allies in the private sector.

6 May 2021

Mass home screening for asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection unlikely to reduce transmission

Encouraging self-testing at home twice a week for all adults in England, and soon Scotland, is a misguided policy, unlikely to reduce transmission, warn public health experts in The BMJ today.

30 Apr 2021

Purdue researchers use malaria expertise to track COVID-19 in Indiana

Scientists have been using genetics to track diseases for decades. Now, a team at Purdue University that typically tracks malaria spread in Southern and Central Africa is using its expertise to track COVID-19 in Indiana.

8 Apr 2021

Montana sticks to its patchwork Covid vaccine rollout as eligibility expands

Montana's Covid-19 vaccine distribution is among the most efficient in the nation, but closer examination reveals a patchwork of systems among counties and tribal governments that will be put to the test as the state opens vaccine eligibility to all people 16 and older starting this month.

5 Apr 2021