Nipah virus (NiV) is a zoonotic paramyxovirus that has recently emerged as a crucial public health issue. It can elicit severe encephalitis and respiratory diseases in animals and humans, leading to fatal outcomes, exhibiting a wide range of host species tropism, and directly transmitting from animals to humans or through an intermediate host. Human-to-human transmission associated with recurrent NiV outbreaks is a potential global health threat. Currently, the lack of effective therapeutics or licensed vaccines for NiV necessitates the primary utilization of supportive care. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of the various aspects of the NiV, including therapeutics, vaccines, and its biological characteristics, epidemiology, pathogenesis, and clinical features. The objective is to provide valuable information from scientific and clinical research and facilitate the formulation of strategies for preventing and controlling the NiV.
Animals ; Humans ; Disease Outbreaks/prevention & control* ; Henipavirus Infections/virology* ; Nipah Virus/pathogenicity* ; Viral Vaccines ; Zoonoses/virology*

Child ; Humans ; Mpox (monkeypox)/prevention & control* ; Disease Outbreaks

Monkeypox is known to be endemic in Africa, but recently, the unusually increasing number of cases of monkeypox in non-endemic countries has caught the attention of the world. The World Health Organization has declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency. The spread pattern is unlikely associated with the previous outbreak outside of Africa, which is related to travelling or contact with exotic animals. The current outbreak is linked to sexual history and presents with atypical localised genital eruptions with an unpredictable onset of viral prodromal symptoms. Although the monkeypox virus is not easily transmittable compared with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, anyone who has been in close contact with a patient with monkeypox is at risk. Most patients will present to a primary care centre for assessment and treatment; therefore, it is important to increase awareness of the infection among primary care providers for early recognition of monkeypox, containment of the outbreak and prevention of healthcare-associated infection. A physician who suspects any patient with monkeypox should notify local or state health authorities immediately.
Mpox, Monkeypox ; Disease Outbreaks ; Primary Health Care

In August 2021, three students with diarrhea from the same school visited a local hospital in the S district of Beijing. An epidemic investigation showed that there were more students with diarrhea in the same school and they had one meal together. Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from both patients with diarrhea and asymptomatic food handlers; however, the latter also carried Campylobacter coli. Phylogenomic analysis showed that there was a campylobacteriosis outbreak among the students, and the asymptomatic food handler may have been the source of the infection. Routine inspection and surveillance for Campylobacter is needed for the food producing staff, particularly those cooking in the cafeteria in schools or other public food services.
Humans ; Campylobacter Infections/epidemiology* ; Gastroenteritis ; Diarrhea ; Campylobacter ; Disease Outbreaks

The eradication of poliomyelitis is a landmark achievement in the history of public health, providing strong protection for children's health. The introduction of the Chinese Regulations for the Manufacture and Control of Live Poliovirus Vaccine is a prerequisite and safeguard for the large-scale production and use of domestically produced live poliovirus vaccines, serving as an indispensable component of vaccine safety. This article, based on archival documents, letters, collections of essays, and oral interviews, examines the historical experience of the development of Chinese Regulations for the Manufacture and Control of Live Poliovirus Vaccine. It contends that the emphasis on localization and the active engagement in international cooperation are critical factors in the swift introduction of Chinese Regulations for the Manufacture and Control of Live Poliovirus Vaccine.
Child ; Humans ; Poliovirus Vaccine, Inactivated ; Poliomyelitis/epidemiology* ; Disease Outbreaks ; China

At the end of 2022, the World Health Organization reported an increase in group A Streptococcus (GAS) infections, such as scarlet fever, in multiple countries. The outbreak primarily affected children under 10 years old, and the number of deaths was higher than anticipated, causing international concern. This paper reviews the current state of the GAS disease outbreak, its causes, and response measures. The authors aim to draw attention from clinical workers in China and increase their awareness and vigilance regarding this epidemic. Healthcare workers should be aware of the potential epidemiological changes in infectious diseases that may arise after the optimization of control measures for coronavirus disease 2019 to ensure children's health.
Child ; Humans ; Streptococcus pyogenes ; COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Streptococcal Infections/epidemiology* ; Scarlet Fever/epidemiology* ; Epidemics ; Disease Outbreaks

The Omicron family of SARS-CoV-2 variants are currently driving the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we analyzed the clinical laboratory test results of 9911 Omicron BA.2.2 sublineages-infected symptomatic patients without earlier infection histories during a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Shanghai in spring 2022. Compared to an earlier patient cohort infected by SARS-CoV-2 prototype strains in 2020, BA.2.2 infection led to distinct fluctuations of pathophysiological markers in the peripheral blood. In particular, severe/critical cases of COVID-19 post BA.2.2 infection were associated with less pro-inflammatory macrophage activation and stronger interferon alpha response in the bronchoalveolar microenvironment. Importantly, the abnormal biomarkers were significantly subdued in individuals who had been immunized by 2 or 3 doses of SARS-CoV-2 prototype-inactivated vaccines, supporting the estimation of an overall 96.02% of protection rate against severe/critical disease in the 4854 cases in our BA.2.2 patient cohort with traceable vaccination records. Furthermore, even though age was a critical risk factor of the severity of COVID-19 post BA.2.2 infection, vaccination-elicited protection against severe/critical COVID-19 reached 90.15% in patients aged ≽ 60 years old. Together, our study delineates the pathophysiological features of Omicron BA.2.2 sublineages and demonstrates significant protection conferred by prior prototype-based inactivated vaccines.
Humans ; Aged ; Middle Aged ; COVID-19/prevention & control* ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Pandemics/prevention & control* ; China/epidemiology* ; Disease Outbreaks/prevention & control* ; Vaccination

An epidemiological investigation was conducted on a cluster epidemic of COVID-19 in the vaccinated population in Beijing in 2022, and serum samples were collected from 21 infected cases and 61 close contacts (including 20 cases with positive nucleic acid in the isolation observation period). The results of antibody detection showed that the IgM antibody of two infected persons was positive, and the IgG antibody positive rates of patients who were converted, not converted to positive and infected persons were 36.84% (7/19), 63.41% (26/41) and 71.43% (15/21), respectively. About 98.78% of patients had been vaccinated with the SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccine. The positive rate of IgG antibody in patients immunized with three doses of vaccine was 86.00% (43/50), which was higher than that in patients with one or two doses [16.12% (5/31)]. The antibody level of M (Q₁, Q₃) in patients immunized with three doses was 4.255 (2.303, 7.0375), which was higher than that in patients with one or two doses [0.500 (0.500, 0.500)] (all P values<0.001). The antibody level of patients who were vaccinated less than three months [7.335 (1.909, 7.858)] was higher than that of patients vaccinated more than three months after the last vaccination [2.125 (0.500, 4.418)] (P=0.007). The positive rate and level of IgG antibody in patients who were converted to positive after three doses were 77.78% (7/9) and 4.207 (2.216, 7.099), respectively, which were higher than those in patients who were converted after one or two doses [0 and 0.500 (0.500, 0.500)] (all P values<0.05).
Humans ; COVID-19 ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Disease Outbreaks ; COVID-19 Vaccines ; Immunoglobulin G ; Antibodies, Viral

The world has paid a heavy price for the pandemic of the emerging respiratory communicable disease, so more concern about communicable disease surveillance and early warning has been aroused. This paper briefly reviews the establishment of the surveillance and early warning system of respiratory communicable diseases in China, discusses its future development and introduces the novel surveillance methods and early warning models for the purpose of establishment of a multi-channel surveillance and multi-dimensional early warning system of communicable diseases in the future and the improvement of the prevention and control of emerging respiratory communicable diseases in China.
Humans ; Population Surveillance/methods* ; Communicable Diseases/epidemiology* ; Communicable Diseases, Emerging/prevention & control* ; China/epidemiology* ; Pandemics ; Disease Outbreaks/prevention & control*

Objective: To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of norovirus-caused acute gastroenteritis outbreaks in China, identify the factors influencing the scale of outbreaks, and provide scientific evidences for early control of norovirus infection outbreaks. Methods: The descriptive epidemiological analysis approach was applied to analyze the incidence of national norovirus infection outbreaks by using the data from the Public Health Emergency Event Surveillance System in China from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2021. The unconditional logistic regression model was applied to analyze the risk factors that affected the outbreaks' scale. Results: A total of 1 725 norovirus infection outbreaks were recorded in China from 2007 to 2021, with an upward trend in the number of the reported outbreaks. The southern provinces had their annual outbreak peaks from October to March; the northern provinces had two outbreak peaks from October to December and from March to June annually. The outbreaks occurred mainly in southeastern coastal provinces with a trend of gradual spread to central, northeastern and western provinces. The outbreaks mainly occurred in schools and childcare setting (1 539 cases, 89.22%), followed by enterprises and institutions (67 cases, 3.88%) and community households (55 cases, 3.19%). Human to human transmission was the main infection route (73.16%), and norovirus GⅡ genotype was the predominate pathogen causing the outbreaks (899 cases, 81.58%). The time interval between the onset of the primary case and the outbreak reporting M (Q₁, Q₃) was 3 (2, 6) days and the case number of the outbreak M (Q₁, Q₃) was 38 (28, 62). The timeliness of outbreak reporting was improved in recent years and the scale of the outbreaks showed a decreasing trend over the years, the differences in reporting timeliness and outbreak scale among different settings were significant (P<0.001). The factors that affected outbreaks' scale included the outbreak setting, transmission route, outbreak reporting timeliness and type of living areas (P<0.05). Conclusions: From 2007 to 2021, the number of the norovirus-caused acute gastroenteritis outbreaks increased in China and the more areas were affected. However, the outbreak scale showed a decreasing trend and the outbreak reporting timeliness was improved. It is important to further improve the surveillance sensitivity and reporting timeliness for the effective control of the outbreak scale.
Humans ; Child ; Norovirus ; Disease Outbreaks ; China ; Child Care ; Gastroenteritis