Incidence of Hajj-associated febrile cough episodes among French pilgrims: a prospective cohort study on the influence of statin use and risk factors

AbstractA prospective epidemiological study was conducted to evaluate the incidence of febrile cough episodes among adult Muslims travelling from Marseille to Saudi Arabia during the Hajj pilgrimage and to assess if use of statin had an influence on this incidence. In total, 580 individuals were presented with a questionnaire. A significant proportion of individuals had chronic medical disorders, e.g. diabetes mellitus (132, 22.8%) and hypertension (147, 25.3%). Pilgrims had a low level of education and a low employment rate. Sixty (10.3%) were treated with statins for hypercholesterolemia. Four hundred and fourty-seven pilgrims were presented a questionnaire on returning home. A total of 74 travellers (16.6%) experienced fever during their stay in Saudi Arabia (67 attended a doctor) and 271 (60.6%) had cough (259 attended a doctor); 70 travellers with cough were febrile (25.9%). Seventy per cent of the travellers who suffered cough episodes developed their first symptoms within 3 days, suggesting a human to human transmission of the responsible pathogen, with short incubation time as evidenced by a bimodal distribution of cough in two peaks at a 24 h interval. None of demographical and socioeconomic characteristics, underlying diseases or vaccination against influenza significantly affected the occurrence of cough. Diabetes correlated with an increased risk of febrile cough (OR = 2.02 (1.05–3.89)) as well as unemployment (OR = 2.22 (0.91–5.53)). Use of statins had no significant influence on the occurrence of cough and/or fever during the pilgrimage. This result suggests that while treatment with a statin has been demonstrated to reduce the mortality from severe sepsis associated with respiratory tract infections, it probably does not play a role in the outcome of regular febrile cough episodes as observed in the cohort studied here

Un Spongiaire Sphinctozoaire colonial apparenté aux constructeurs de récifs triasiques survivant dans le bathyal de Nouvelle-Calédonie

Un second représentant actuel des Sphinctozoaires, importants constructeurs de récifs au Permo-Trias, a été découvert dans la zone bathyale de la NouvelleCalédonie. Contrairement au survivant déjà connu, #Valecetia crypta$, il a conservé le mode de croissance colonial et les capacités constructrices de ses analogues fossiles. Sa croissance est bien plus lente que celle des coraux récifaux actuels. La base d'une construction de 10 cm d'épaisseur a été datée de 700 ans. (Résumé d'auteur

Can dengue virus be sexually transmitted?

It has been well documented that Zika virus (ZIKV) can be sexually transmitted. Dengue virus (DENV) shows many similarities with ZIKV; both belong to the genus Flavivirus and share the same main vector route of transmission. Moreover, they share overall architectural features on a molecular level, with a highly similar structure and distinctive insertions, deletions and mutations of their respective E proteins, and it has been suggested that they use a common pathophysiological pathway. In view of similarities with other sexually transmissible viruses, the question arises as to whether DENV could also be sexually transmissible. Limited animal model data do not suggest otherwise. The presence of dengue virus in - and human-to-human, non-vector transmission from - various bodily fluids other than semen or vaginal secretions has been documented anecdotally. Several anecdotal reports described prolonged presence of DENV in semen, urine and vaginal secretions. In 2019, two cases of likely sexual transmission were reported from Spain and South Korea, respectively. We discuss the evidence for and against a relevant DENV sexual transmission potential, highlight controversies and propose a future research agenda on this issue

Challenges in dengue research: A computational perspective

This is the final version of the article. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.The dengue virus is now the most widespread arbovirus affecting human populations, causing significant economic and social impact in South America and South-East Asia. Increasing urbanization and globalization, coupled with insufficient resources for control, misguided policies or lack of political will, and expansion of its mosquito vectors are some of the reasons why interventions have so far failed to curb this major public health problem. Computational approaches have elucidated on dengue's population dynamics with the aim to provide not only a better understanding of the evolution and epidemiology of the virus but also robust intervention strategies. It is clear, however, that these have been insufficient to address key aspects of dengue's biology, many of which will play a crucial role for the success of future control programmes, including vaccination. Within a multiscale perspective on this biological system, with the aim of linking evolutionary, ecological and epidemiological thinking, as well as to expand on classic modelling assumptions, we here propose, discuss and exemplify a few major computational avenues—real-time computational analysis of genetic data, phylodynamic modelling frameworks, within-host model frameworks and GPU-accelerated computing. We argue that these emerging approaches should offer valuable research opportunities over the coming years, as previously applied and demonstrated in the context of other pathogens.JL, AW and SG received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement no. 268904 - DIVERSITY. MR was supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. NRF by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (grant number 204311/Z/16/Z). WT has received funding from a doctoral scholarship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Partnership

Constraining the Cosmological Parameters using Strong Lensing

We investigate the potentiality of using strong lensing clusters to constrain the cosmological parameters Omega_m and Omega_lambda. The existence of a multiple image system with known redshift allows, for a given (Omega_m, Omega_lambda) cosmology, absolute calibration of the total mass deduced from lens modelling. Recent Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of galaxy clusters reveal a large number of multiple images, which are predicted to be at different redshifts. If it is possible to measure spectroscopically the redshifts of many multiple images then one can in principle constrain (Omega_m,Omega_lambda) through ratios of angular diameter distances, independently of any external assumptions. For a regular/relaxed cluster observed by HST with 3 multiple image systems, each with different spectroscopic redshifts, we show by analytic calculation that the following uncertainties can be expected: Omega_m=0.30 +/- 0.11, Omega_lambda=0.70 +/- 0.23 or Omega_m=1.00 +/- 0.17, Omega_lambda=0.00 +/- 0.48 for the two most popular world models. Numerical tests on simulated data confirm these good constraints, even in the case of more realistic cluster potentials, such as bimodal clusters, or when including perturbations by galaxies. To investigate the sensitivity of the method to different mass profiles, we also use an analytic ``pseudo-elliptical'' Navarro, Frenk & White profile in the simulations. These constraints can be improved if more than 3 multiple images with spectroscopic redshifts are observed, or by combining the results from different clusters. Some prospects on the determination of the cosmological parameters with gravitational lensing are given.Comment: Revised Version. 15 pages, 18 figures and 6 table