Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of dengue fever in Shenzhen City in 2024, so as to provide insights into formulation of the preventive and control measures for dengue fever. Methods The epidemiological data of dengue cases reported in Shenzhen City in 2024 were extracted from the China Disease Prevention and Control Information System and field epidemiological survey data of dengue fever in Shenzhen City, and the temporal, regional and population distributions of dengue fever cases, source of acquire dengue virus infections, disease diagnosis and treatment and outbreaks were analyzed. The dengue virus nucleic acid was tested and the serotypes of dengue virus were characterized using real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) assay, and the dengue virus gene was sequenced using next-generation sequencing (NGS). In addition, the surveillance on the density of Aedes albopictus was performed using Breteau index (BI) and mosquito oviposition index (MOI). Results A total of 1 735 dengue fever cases were reported in Shenzhen City in 2024, including 952 local cases and 783 imported cases. Most imported dengue fever cases acquired infections from eight cities of Foshan, Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Dongguan, Zhaoqing, Huizhou, and Zhuhai in the Pearl River Delta region (664 cases, 84.8% of total imported cases) into Baoan, Longgang, and Nanshan districts. The epidemic exhibited an early onset and rapid progression, peaking during the period between September and November (1 632 cases, 94.1% of total cases), and dengue fever cases were distributed across 73 subdistricts in 10 districts, with most cases reported in densely populated central and western regions. The dengue fever cases had a male-to-female ratio of 1.9∶1.0, and a median age of 37 (21) years, with a higher median age among local cases than among imported cases [40 (20) years vs. 33(15) years; Z = -10.30, P < 0.05]. Housework, unemployment, workers, and business service were predominant occupations (1 405 cases, 81.0% of total cases), and there was a significant difference in the constituent ratio of occupations between local and imported cases (χ² = 92.30, P < 0.05). Among the 1 735 dengue fever cases, the median duration from onset to definitive diagnosis was 3.3 (2.9) days, and 1 686 cases (97.2%) were identified in healthcare facilities, with a low rate of hospitalization and isolation seen in 1 701 inpatients with available epidemiological data (485 cases, 28.5% of total inpatients). A total of 29 outbreaks of dengue fever occurred in Shenzhen City across 2024, which primarily in construction sites (27 outbreaks, 93.1% of total). Dengue virus type I was the dominant serotype causing dengue fever in Shenzhen City in 2024. Sequencing showed that the genomes of dengue virus from multiple dengue fever cases in Shenzhen City shared a high sequence homology with those from cities neighboring Shenzhen City, and there might be intra-city transmission of dengue virus among multiple construction sites in Shenzhen City. The Aedes albopictus density was significantly higher in Shenzhen City in 2024 than in 2023, peaking from May to September. The annual MOI values ranged from 0.9 to 14.0, and the BI values ranged from 0.6 to 6.0. Conclusions The overall epidemic of dengue fever was severe in Shenzhen City in 2024, which was greatly affected by case importation from neighboring cities, construction sites-centered local transmission, and the effectives of routine mosquito vector control was not satisfactory. Integrated dengue fever control measures should be implemented, focusing on regional joint prevention and control mechanisms, capacity building for mosquito vector control, addressing challenges in epidemic containment at construction sites, and strengthening case detection and management systems.

A 11-year old female patient with severe thalassemia, receipt a lentivirus-based cell and gene therapy (CGT) therapy in Shenzhen Children′s Hosptial on July 27th, 2021. At the two follow-up visits after discharge, patient were continuously tested positive for HIV screening through HIV Ag/Ab Combo assay (chemiluminescence Immunoassay), and the viral load results of HIV-1 nucleic acid testing (NAT) were both>5 000 copies/ml. The patient can be diagnosed with HIV infection according to the National Guideline for Detection of HIV/AIDS(2020 Revised Edition). The thorough investigation findings and supplementary experiment results indicated that the false-positive HIV-1 NAT results was caused by cross-reactivity between the target sites detected by conventional HIV-1 NAT reagents and the lentiviral vectors fragments integrated into the genome of patient′s hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. In conclusion, it is important for laboratories to select appropriate HIV-1 NAT testing platforms which won′t cause cross-reactivity for the testing of samples from patients who have been treated with HIV-derived vectors. It is also recommended to design and develop NAT testing platforms with multiple target regions labeled by different fluorescents for HIV NAT supplementation experiment to reduce the risk of false-positive diagnoses of HIV infection.

Objective:To assess the cost-effectiveness of influenza vaccination among people aged 60 years and older in Shenzhen.Methods:A Markov state transition model was constructed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of annual influenza vaccination for preventing influenza infection compared with no vaccination among the elderly from the social perspective. Allowing seasonal variation of influenza activity, the model followed a five-year cohort using weekly cycles. We employed once the Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in 2019 (70 892 yuan) as the willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold and calculated the net monetary benefit (NMB) with costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) discounted at 5% annually. The impact of parameter uncertainty on the results was examined using one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses (PSA).Results:The base case amounted to approximately 35 yuan of cost-saving and a net gain of 0.007 QALYs. Correspondingly, the NMB was 529 yuan per vaccinated person. One-way sensitivity analyses showed that the NMB was relatively sensitive to changes in the attack rate of influenza and vaccine effectiveness. Based on the results of PSA with 1 000 Monte Carlo simulations, influenza vaccination had a probability of being cost-effective in 100% of the repetitions.Conclusions:The present study provides evidence that influenza vaccination is a cost-saving disease prevention strategy for people aged 60 years and older in Shenzhen.

The causes for male sexual orientation are complicated, which have not yet been clarified. Recent years have witnessed fruitful progress in the field of biology, while the impact of environment has received little attention. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), identified as a special environment in the early stage of development, can affect the individual phenotype by DNA methylation. Given the relationships among male sexual orientation, ACEs, and DNA methylation, as well as based on the existing theory, this article proposes the model "ACEs-DNA methylation-male sexual orientation"from the perspective of environment and epigenetics, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for future research.
Adverse Childhood Experiences ; Child ; DNA Methylation ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Sexual Behavior

Objective:To assess the impact of vaccination at school and influenza vaccination rates among school-age children on school absenteeism in Shenzhen.Methods:The study subjects were primary school students in Shenzhen. School absenteeism panel database from December 2017 to June 2020 of 286 primary schools in Shenzhen was merged with vaccination rates and organizational patterns ( i.e., vaccination at school vs. non-school) data of 9 districts in Shenzhen after influenza vaccination for children. The outcome was the number of school absenteeism. The treatment and control groups were distinguished by organizational patterns and district vaccination rates. Difference-in-Difference (DiD) Poisson regressions were used to analyze the effectiveness of vaccination at school and higher vaccination rates. Besides, a robustness test was performed on the regression results. Results:Poisson regression analysis and robustness test of regression results showed that vaccination at school and higher vaccination rates effectively reduced the risk of school absenteeism, with effectiveness against absenteeism of 32.6% (95% CI: 17.0%-45.3%, P<0.01) and 53.0% (95% CI: 42.1%-61.8%, P<0.01), respectively. Conclusion:A free influenza vaccination program for school-age children in Shenzhen and prioritizing school-based vaccination may be an effective measure to reduce the risk of school absenteeism.

Objectives:This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the strategies on COVID-19 outbreak control in Shenzhen, and to clarify the feasibility of these strategies in metropolitans that have high population density and strong mobility.Methods:The epidemic feature of COVID-19 was described by different phases and was used to observe the effectiveness of intervention. Hierarchical spot map was drawn to clarify the distribution and transmission risk of infection sources at different time points. The Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Asymptomatic-Recovered model was established to estimate case numbers without intervention and compare with the actual number of cases to determine the effect of intervention. The positive rate of the nucleic acid test was used to reflect the risk of human exposure. A survey on COVID-19 related knowledge, attitude and behaviors were used to estimate the abilities of personal protection and emergency response.Results:The epidemic of COVID-19 in Shenzhen experienced the rising, plateau and decline stage. The case number increased rapidly at the beginning, with short duration of peak period. Although the epidemic curve showed human-to-human transmission, the "trailing" was not obvious. From the spot map, during the intervention period, the source of infection was widely distributed. More cases and higher transmission risk were observed in areas with higher population density. After the effective intervention measures, both infection sources and the risk of transmission decreased. After compared with the estimated case numbers without intervention, actual number proved the COVID-19 control strategies were effective. The positive rate of nucleic acid test for high risk populations decreased and no new cases reported since February 16. Shenzhen citizens had high knowledge, attitude and behavior level, and high protection ability and emergency response.Conclusions:Although the response initiated by the health administration department played a key role at the early stage of the epidemic, it was not enough to contain the outbreak of COVID-19. The first-level emergency response initiated by provincial and municipal government was effective and ensured the start of work resumption after the Spring Festival. Metropolitans like Shenzhen can also achieve the goals of strategies and measures for containment and mitigation of COVID-19.

Objective:To assess the prevalence of HIV primary drug resistance and drug resistance gene mutations among men who have sex with men (MSM).Methods:We searched eight electronic databases (CNKI,VIP,CBM,Wanfang Database,PubMed,Web of Knowledge,Springer,Medline) for the studies of HIV drug resistance relevant to MSM.Drug resistance and drug resistance mutations data were pooled and analyzed according to statistical test of homogeneity.Subgroups were further divided according to sample size,location,race,quality rating score,sampling time.Results:Forty-three studies were included in this Meta-analysis.The pooled rate of total to protease inhibitor (PI),nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor(NRTI) or non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) were 10.21％ (95％ CI 8.65％ to12.03％),2.98％ (95％ CI 2.25％ to 3.93％),4.05％ (95％ CI 3.14％ to 5.21％),4.42％ (95％ CI 3.31％ to 5.88％),respectively.The pooled rates of PI major mutation,PI secondary mutations,NRTI mutations and NNRTI mutations were 0.55％ (95％ CI 0.38％ to 0.80％),1.31％ (95％ CI 0.98％ to 1.75％),0.85％ (95％ CI 0.51％ to 1.40％),1.19％ (95％ CI 0.70％ to 2.01％),0.79％ (95％ CI 0.55％ to 1.13％),1.73％ (95％ CI 1.21％ to 2.46％),0.86％ (95％ CI 0.61％ to 1.21％),2.24％ (95％ CI 1.77％ to 2.83％),respectively.Sample size,region,and race were heterogeneous sources;the rate of resistance mutations and gene mutation rate were different in different subgroups.Conclusion:The prevalence of primary drug resistance among MSM was high in Americas and Europe,and it was gradually increased in Asia.We should pay attention to the high incidence of PI secondary mutations.

Sexual orientation is influenced by both environmental factors and biological factors. Family and twin studies have shown that genetic factors play an important role in the formation of male homosexuality. Genome-wide scan also revealed candidate chromosomal regions which may be associated with male homosexuality, but so far no clearly related genes have been found. This article reviews the progress of relevant studies and candidate genes which are related to male homosexuality.
Animals ; Aromatase ; genetics ; Catechol O-Methyltransferase ; genetics ; Homosexuality, Male ; genetics ; Humans ; LIM-Homeodomain Proteins ; genetics ; Male ; Receptors, Dopamine D1 ; genetics ; Transcription Factors ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the current status of contact tracing among pregnant women infected with syphilis and to analyze the associated factors from patients' perspective.

METHODSPregnant women who aged 18 years old, receiving prenatal care services in Shenzhen, diagnosed with syphilis according to national diagnostic criteria (WS 273-2007) from 2008 to 2011 were recruited and the total number was 3 551. Information of both pregnant women (including demographic information, laboratory results, syphilis diagnosis, and personal life history) and their partners (including results of partner tracing and laboratory examination) were collected with structured questionnaire by face-to-face interview. Multivariate non-conditional logistic regression model was applied to analyze the factors associated with partners' contract tracing. Odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidential interval (95%CI) were calculated.

RESULTSThe average age was 28.72 among recruited 3 551 syphilis-infected pregnant women, with standard deviation of 5.21 and range of 18 to 40. Totally 2 550 partners attended antenatal clinics and received syphilis examination, with a contact tracing rate of 71.81%. The OR(95%CI) was 1.70(1.26-2.30) for pregnant women with college or above education when comparing with those with senior high school or below education. The OR(95%CI) was 0.57(0.45-0.71) for those unmarried or divorce when comparing with those married. The OR (95% CI) was 0.73(0.56-0.94) and 0.65(0.53-0.81) for those screened in 28-36 gestational weeks and those screened in >36 gestational weeks or right before delivery separately, when comparing with those screened in ≤27 gestational weeks. The OR (95% CI) was 1.45(1.14-1.84) for those having received sufficient treatment before pregnancy when comparing with those diagnosed with latent syphilis. The OR(95%CI) was 0.31 (0.24-0.39) for those having no treatment or not standardized treatment when comparing with those having standardized penicillin treatment. The OR(95%CI) was 0.53 (0.43-0.65) for those terminating the pregnancy when comparing with those giving birth to a baby. The OR(95%CI) was 1.24 (1.05-1.46) for those having two or more love histories when comparing with those having only one love history. The OR(95%CI) was 4.74 (3.54-6.35) for those intending to disclose the serostatus to their partner when comparing with those showing unwillingness to disclose the serostatus.

CONCLUSIONThe successful rate of contact tracing among pregnant women infected with syphilis was high. The implementation of contact tracing may be affected by many factors, including patients' education levels, marital status, gestational weeks of screening, stage of syphilis, treatment status, outcome of pregnancy, number of love histories, and willingness of serostatus disclosure.

Ambulatory Care Facilities ; China ; epidemiology ; Contact Tracing ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Odds Ratio ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious ; epidemiology ; Prenatal Care ; Sexual Partners ; Syphilis ; epidemiology

Objective To understand the prevalence rate of genital Chlamydia trachomatis among a population with suspected-Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection,the distribution of Chlamydia trachomatis genotypes,assess changes in omp1 sequences among patients with Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis coinfections.Methods Four hundred and one swabs were collected.Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae were detected by Roche Amplicor System.DNA were extracted from those samples and were amplified by nested PCR.PCR products were sequencing and analyzed by software Mega4.0.Results The prevalence of genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection,Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection and coinfection with genital gonorrhoea and genital chlamydia were 82.3%,24.2% and 21.7% each.Eight genotypes were identified in 73 sequences,including E(27.4%),G/Ga(23.3%),D/Da(16.4%),F(13.7%),J (11.0%),H(5.5%),B and K(each 1.4%).Sequencing analysis showed that 3 cases(4.1%) had missense mutation,including genotype D/Da,E,G/Ga.Genotypes F,H,J and K were more variable,however,most of them were silent mutation.Conclusion The prevalence rate of genital Chlamydia trachomatis among a population with Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection was high.The most common genotypes were genotype E,G/Ga,D/Da and F; Sequencing analysis has provided a tool for the molecular epidemiology of genital Chlamydia trachomatis infections.