It has been 10 years since severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) – the first emerging infectious disease of global significance in the 21st century – occurred in the Western Pacific Region in 2003. At that time, the revision process of the International Health Regulations (IHR) was underway.

Health security in the Asia Pacific Region is continuously threatened by emerging diseases and public health emergencies. In recent years, the Region has been an epicentre for many emerging diseases, resulting in substantial negative impacts on health, social and economic development. As the Region is home to more than 50% of the world population, true global public health security depends to a large degree upon how successful this Region is in developing and sustaining functional national and regional systems and capacities for managing emerging diseases and acute public health events and emergencies. Tremendous efforts have been made by individual countries and the international community to confront emerging disease threats in recent years, but the need for a common regional strategic framework has been recognized by countries and areas in the Asia Pacific, the World Health Organization, donors and partner agencies. To address this need, an updated Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases, or APSED (2010), has been developed, aiming to strategically build sustainable national and regional capacities and partnerships to ensure public health security through preparedness planning, prevention, early detection and rapid response to emerging diseases and other public health emergencies. The Strategy calls for collective responsibility and actions to address the shared regional health security threat with a greater emphasis on preparedness-driven investments in health security. APSED (2010) serves as a road map to guide all countries and areas in the region towards meeting their core capacity requirements under the International Health Regulations (2005) to ensure regional and global health security.

The revised International Health Regulations, known as IHR (2005), went into effect on 15 June 2007, requiring World Health Organization (WHO) Member States to notify all events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

In this issue we introduce a new article type – the outbreak investigation report – with our theme Outbreak investigations in the Western Pacific Region. This new article type allows for concise reports on outbreak investigations and expands the role of the Western Pacific Surveillance and Response Journal (WPSAR) as a regional information-sharing platform, as per the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases (APSED 2010) in line with the International Health Regulation (2005). Timely sharing of outbreak investigations may be useful in informing public health action across the Region.

Treatment of 100 cases of postpartum retention by electroacupuncture Sanyinjiao (SP 6), Yin-lingquan (SP 9), Zigong (Ex-CA 1 ), Liniao (Ex-CA),Zhongji (CV 3) and Hegu ( LI 4), and the effective rate was 98%.

We established the Western Pacific Surveillance and Response Journal (WPSAR) in 2010 to increase the dissemination of data from surveillance systems in the Asia Pacific region as part of the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases.¹ WPSAR was to provide a platform for people working in surveillance and response in the Western Pacific Region to share scientific and operational findings and publish a broad range of articles not limited to conventional research articles.

In mid-2014, four years after the first issue of WPSAR, an online survey of WPSAR subscribers was conducted to assess the impact, network and visibility of WPSAR in the region to determine if these objectives had been met. Based on a similar survey undertaken by Eurosurveillance in 2011,² we sought to understand the WPSAR audience more comprehensively, how the journal is used and readers’ expectations. The WPSAR readership survey link was e-mailed to the 514 registered subscribers, and 25% responded.

The visual acuity testa were performed in 8219 children(16 438 eyes)under 5 years of age with sound and light toys,electric torch and a retinoscope.The general ocular examination and mydriatic optometry were also performed for the ametropia.In 8219 children 61 were found to have dominant strabismus,including 59 cases of concomitant strabismus and 2 paralytic strabismus.AbnormaJ refraction was detected in 404 children(739 eye)accounting for 4.92%,including 68 cases of anisometropia (0.83%).In 16 438 eyes 621(3.78%)were moderate or hyper-presbyopia;53(0.32%)were myopia;65 (0.40%)were mixed astigmatism.The vision acuity test described above is a simple and convenient method suitable for children under 5 who are not able to read the conventional test chart.

Objective To prepare toothache drop pills and establish its quality standard.Methods The drop pills were prepared by a routine method; HPLC was used for the determination of the EU isoimperatorin content.Results The drop pills were well- distributed in size, smooth and glossy in appearance, mild in hardness; TLC can identify isoimperatorin characteristic spots; Determination of the Indigo 0.50~520μg/ml linear relationship was good,r=0.999 8, the recovery of 98.38%.RSD values were 1.05%.Conclusion The preparation method of toothache drop pills is simple, and the drop pills are well-shaped with controllable quality.

Objective To investigate the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of toothache drop pills. Methods The acute inflammatory models such as xylene-induced ear edema and egg white-induced paw edema and the chronic inflammatory model granuloma induced by cotton pellet implantation were used in researching the inflammatory effects of toothache drop pills. Meanwhile, the analgesic effects of toothache drop pills were observed by hot plate and acetic acid writhing test. Results Compared with the blank control group,the degree of ear swelling in mice in the positive control group, toothache drop pills middle and high dose group (2.56 ± 1.35 mg, 4.26 ± 1.21 mg, 3.23 ± 1.25 mg vs. 8.25 ± 1.21 mg) were lower than the blank control group (P<0.05). 120 minutes after administration,compared with the blank control group, the degree of paw swelling in mice in the positive control group, toothache drop pills middle and high dose group (23.54 ± 9.12 mg, 27.58 ± 9.14 mg, 21.25 ± 8.45 mg vs.39.54 ± 8.89 mg) were lower than the blank control group (P<0.05). Granuloma swelling quality in mice caused by cotton in the positive control group, toothache drop pills middle and high dose group (6.51 ± 2.58 mg, 7.82 ± 1.57 mg, 6.58 ± 3.47 mg vs. 13.58 ± 3.25 mg) were lower than the blank control group (P<0.05). The threshold of pain in mice in the positive control group, toothache drop pills middle and high dose group (20.86 ± 2.58 s, 20.25 ± 2.14 s, 20.75 ± 1.78 s vs.17.21 ± 3.31 s) were increased (P<0.05). The number of mice writhing in the positive control group, toothache drop pills middle and high dose group (23.47 ± 7.57, 28.65 ± 6.54, 24.36 ± 7.78 vs. 40.96 ± 6.58) were decreased(P<0.05). Conclusion Toothache drop pills had obvious anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the infection and drug resistance of Staphylococcus spp from hospitalized cases in Suzhou area.METHODS The data from hospitalized cases of 32 hospitals in Suzhou(from 2004 to 2007) were analyzed retrospectively.RESULTS From 2004 to 2007,17 668 cases of nosocomial infection were collected from 32 hospitals in Suzhou area.The infection rate of Staphylococcus aureus was 5.78%,7.11%,8.39% and 7.50%,respectively;the number of meticillin-resistant S.aureus(MRSA) infection cases was 66(34.74%),107(33.86%),138(37.00%) and 219(53.16%) respectively and the total number was 530(41.05%).The nosocomial infection caused by S.epidermidis accounted for 5.99%,5.47%,5.35% and 5.25%,respectively from 2004 to 2007.The number of meticillin-resistant S.epidermidis(MRSE) infection cases were 118(59.90%),128(52.67%),119(50.00%) and 134(46.53%) and the total number was 499(51.66%).The main infection site of S.aureus and S.epidermidis was respiratory tract(74.28% and 71.81%,respectively).Antibiotic resistance strains of S.aureus and S.epidermidis was on rising,and most of them were multi-drug resistance strains.All of the strains were sensitive to vancomycin.CONCLUSIONS In Suzhou area,nosocomial infection and drug resistance of Staphylococcus is on the rise.Evevy hospital must take effective measures to control nosocomial infections of Staphylococcus and drug resistance.