Rapid Health and Needs assessments after disasters: a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Publichealth care providers, stakeholders and policy makers request a rapid insight into health status and needs of the affected population after disasters. To our knowledge, there is no standardized rapid assessment tool for European countries. The aim of this article is to describe existing tools used internationally and analyze them for the development of a workable rapid assessment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A review was conducted, including original studies concerning a rapid health and/or needs assessment. The studies used were published between 1980 and 2009. The electronic databasesof Medline, Embase, SciSearch and Psychinfo were used.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty-three studies were included for this review. The majority of the studies was of US origin and in most cases related to natural disasters, especially concerning the weather. In eighteen studies an assessment was conducted using a structured questionnaire, eleven studies used registries and four used both methods. Questionnaires were primarily used to asses the health needs, while data records were used to assess the health status of disaster victims.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Methods most commonly used were face to face interviews and data extracted from existing registries. Ideally, a rapid assessment tool is needed which does not add to the burden of disaster victims. In this perspective, the use of existing medical registries in combination with a brief questionnaire in the aftermath of disasters is the most promising. Since there is an increasing need for such a tool this approach needs further examination.</p

Comprehensive transcriptome of the maize stalk borer, Busseola fusca, from multiple tissue types, developmental stages, and parasitoid wasp exposures

International audienc

Longitudinal Study of Salmonella Dispersion and the Role of Environmental Contamination in Commercial Swine Production Systems▿

This study investigated the roles of various environmental sources, such as truck-washing systems, waste-processing lagoons, and other sources, as potential contributors to the exposure and dissemination of Salmonella in commercial swine production systems. Four cohorts of nursery age swine herds which originated from distinct farm flows were selected. In addition, cross-sectional sampling of four truck wash stations selected based on the types of disinfectants and sources of water used for sanitizing trucks were tested. Salmonella isolates were recovered from pigs (feces, cecal contents, and mesenteric lymph nodes) and environmental sources (barn floor, lagoon, barn flush, trucks, and holding pens). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and genotyping were conducted using Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion and amplified fragment length polymorphism, respectively. Salmonella prevalence significantly increased with age from late nursery to slaughter for all of the cohorts (P = 0.007). In two of three instances, all three pig holding pens (lairage) sampled at processing were Salmonella positive. The predominant antibiotypes for all sources included ACSSuT (51.8%), SSuT (16.8%), T (6%), and pansusceptible (7.4%). For the isolates obtained at the farms, the ACSSuT phenotype was 5.6 times more likely to be found in the animals than in the environment (95% confidence interval, 4.4 to 7.2 times). Serogroup B was the most common serogroup (79%), followed by serogroup E (10.4%). Despite the fact that the four production flows were independent, 1 of the 11 genotypic clusters (cluster A1) was commonly detected in any type of sample regardless of its origin. Five of the genotypic clusters (clusters A3, A4, A5, A6, and A7) contained isolates that originated from trucks and lairage swabs and also from cecal contents and/or mesenteric lymph nodes. More interestingly, genotypic clusters A3, A4, and A6 (but not clusters A5 and A7) were not detected on the farms. They originated from the trucks and lairage swabs and then were identified from the cecal contents and/or mesenteric lymph nodes. These findings underscore the significance of various environmental factors, including inadequate truck-washing systems, and emphasize the role of lairage contamination by Salmonella that has food safety significance