Travel medicine and infectious disease
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Arbaeen is an annual religious procession in Iraq with an estimated 17-20 million participants. Public health risks associated with such a mass gathering can be serious at both local and global levels. This is the first quantitative examination of risk factors for, and symptoms of, infectious disease among Arbaeen participants. ⋯ Street food and high-income country origin were independent risk factors for respiratory or gastrointestinal infection symptoms in this sample of Arbaeen participants. However, these results cannot be generalised due to possible selection bias. Further studies are required to inform policy development and health system preparedness to reduce Arbaeen-associated health risks.
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Travel Med Infect Dis · May 2020
YouTube as source of information on 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak: a cross sectional study of English and Mandarin content.
The current 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is rapidly evolving. YouTube has been recognized as a popular source of information in previous disease outbreaks. We analyzed the content on YouTube about n-CoV in English and Mandarin languages. ⋯ YouTube viewership during 2019 n-CoV outbreak is higher than previous outbreaks. The medical content of videos is suboptimal International health agencies are underrepresented. Given its popularity, YouTube should be considered as important platform for information dissemination.
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Travel Med Infect Dis · May 2020
ReviewTherapeutic use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 and other viral infections: A narrative review.
The rapidly spreading Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), represents an unprecedented serious challenge to the global public health community. The extremely rapid international spread of the disease with significant morbidity and mortality made finding possible therapeutic interventions a global priority. While approved specific antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 are still lacking, a large number of existing drugs are being explored as a possible treatment for COVID-19 infected patients. ⋯ Both CQ and HCQ demonstrated promising in vitro results, however, such data have not yet been translated into meaningful in vivo studies. While few clinical trials have suggested some beneficial effects of CQ and HCQ in COVID-19 patients, most of the reported data are still preliminary. Given the current uncertainty, it is worth being mindful of the potential risks and strictly rationalise the use of these drugs in COVID-19 patients until further high quality randomized clinical trials are available to clarify their role in the treatment or prevention of COVID-19.
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Travel Med Infect Dis · May 2020
Early treatment of COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin: A retrospective analysis of 1061 cases in Marseille, France.
In France, the combination hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin (AZ) is used in the treatment of COVID-19. ⋯ Administration of the HCQ+AZ combination before COVID-19 complications occur is safe and associated with a very low fatality rate in patients.