Poor Knowledge of Tuberculosis among the Population of Jeddah and Makkah Saudi Arabia, a High-Risk Area

SETTING: Millions of pilgrims visit Makkah (Mecca), Saudi Arabia, from regions of endemic tuberculosis. Little consideration has been given to the potential impact of this disease on the local population. OBJECTIVES: To assess knowledge about TB among residents of Makkah and Jeddah (Makkah’s principal travel gateway). METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 1004 residents. Data were analyzed by gender. RESULTS: Spread of TB by coughing was a transmission route known by 44.2% of males and 59.6% of females (P < 0.001);20.0% of participants knew that TB is caused by bacteria;71.6% of females and 52.3% of males knew TB is infectious (P < 0.001). Regarding approaches to TB prevention, 48.0% of respondents answered patient isolation and 15.2% vaccination. Overall, 50.6% of males and 38.3% of females (P < 0.001) would seek modern medical treatment if hemoptysis occurred. With a persistent cough, 65.4% of respondents would do nothing or wait before consulting a healthcare provider. High numbers of “don’t know” responses were recorded throughout the survey. CONCLUSIONS: Within the population across pilgrimage areas in Saudi Arabia, knowledge is lacking concerning TB transmission, the cause of the disease, means of prevention and the success of treatment, highlighting an urge need for better public education.

The risk of mpox importation and subsequent outbreak potential in Chinese mainland: a retrospective statistical modelling study

Background The 2022-2023 mpox(monkeypox)outbreak has spread rapidly across multiple countries in the non-endemic region,mainly among men who have sex with men(MSM).In this study,we aimed to evaluate mpox's importation risk,border screening effectiveness and the risk of local outbreak in Chinese mainland.Methods We estimated the risk of mpox importation in Chinese mainland from April 14 to September 11,2022 using the number of reported mpox cases during this multi-country outbreak from Global.health and the international air-travel data from Official Aviation Guide.We constructed a probabilistic model to simulate the effectiveness of a border screening scenario during the mpox outbreak and a hypothetical scenario with less stringent quarantine requirement.And we further evaluated the mpox outbreak potential given that undetected mpox infections were introduced into men who have sex with men,considering different transmissibility,population immunity and population activity.Results We found that the reduced international air-travel volume and stringent border entry policy decreased about 94% and 69% mpox importations respectively.Under the quarantine policy,15-19% of imported infections would remain undetected.Once a case of mpox is introduced into active MSM population with almost no population immunity,the risk of triggering local transmission is estimated at 42%,and would rise to>95% with over six cases.Conclusions Our study demonstrates that the reduced international air-travel volume and stringent border entry policy during the COvID-19 pandemic reduced mpox importations prominently.However,the risk could be sub-stantially higher with the recovery of air-travel volume to pre-pandemic level.Mpox could emerge as a public health threat for Chinese mainland given its large MSM community.

Model-based evaluation of the COVID-19 epidemiological impact on international visitors during Expo 2020

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on large events has been substantial.In this work,an evaluation of the potential impact of international arrivals due to Expo 2020 in terms of potential COVID-19 infections from October 1st,2021,until the end of April 2022 in the United Arab Emirates is presented.Our simulation results indicate that:(i)the vaccination status of the visitors appears to have a small impact on cases,this is expected as the small numbers of temporary visitors with respect to the total population contribute little to the herd immunity status;and(ii)the number of infected arrivals is the major factor of impact potentially causing a surge in cases countrywide with the subsequent hospitalisations and fatalities.These results indicate that the prevention of infected arrivals should take all precedence priority to mitigate the impact of international visitors with their vaccination status being of less relevance.

COVID-19 Pandemic with Human Mobility Across Countries

This study develops a holistic view of the novel coronavirus(COVID-19)spread worldwide through a spatial–temporal model with network dynamics.By using a unique human mobility dataset containing 547166 flights with a total capacity of 101455913 passengers from January 22 to April 24,2020,we analyze the epidemic correlations across 22 countries in six continents and particularly the changes in such correlations before and after implementing the international travel restriction policies targeting different countries.Results show that policymakers should move away from the previous practices that focus only on restricting hotspot areas with high infection rates.Instead,they should develop a new holistic view of global human mobility to impose the international movement restriction.The study further highlights potential correlations between international human mobility and focal countries’epidemic situations in the global network of COVID-19 pandemic.