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Lee H, Choi H, Lee H, Lee S, Kim C. Uncovering COVID-19 transmission tree: identifying traced and untraced infections in an infection network. Front Public Health 2024; 12:1362823. [PMID: 38887240 PMCID: PMC11180726 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1362823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of COVID-19 transmission dynamics using an infection network derived from epidemiological data in South Korea, covering the period from January 3, 2020, to July 11, 2021. The network illustrates infector-infectee relationships and provides invaluable insights for managing and mitigating the spread of the disease. However, significant missing data hinder conventional analysis of such networks from epidemiological surveillance. Methods To address this challenge, this article suggests a novel approach for categorizing individuals into four distinct groups, based on the classification of their infector or infectee status as either traced or untraced cases among all confirmed cases. The study analyzes the changes in the infection networks among untraced and traced cases across five distinct periods. Results The four types of cases emphasize the impact of various factors, such as the implementation of public health strategies and the emergence of novel COVID-19 variants, which contribute to the propagation of COVID-19 transmission. One of the key findings is the identification of notable transmission patterns in specific age groups, particularly in those aged 20-29, 40-69, and 0-9, based on the four type classifications. Furthermore, we develop a novel real-time indicator to assess the potential for infectious disease transmission more effectively. By analyzing the lengths of connected components, this indicator facilitates improved predictions and enables policymakers to proactively respond, thereby helping to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on global communities. Conclusion This study offers a novel approach to categorizing COVID-19 cases, provides insights into transmission patterns, and introduces a real-time indicator for better assessment and management of the disease transmission, thereby supporting more effective public health interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyunwoo Lee
- Department of Mathematics, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
- Nonlinear Dynamics and Mathematical Application Center, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
| | - Hayoung Choi
- Department of Mathematics, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
- Nonlinear Dynamics and Mathematical Application Center, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyojung Lee
- Nonlinear Dynamics and Mathematical Application Center, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
- Department of Statistics, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
| | - Sunmi Lee
- Nonlinear Dynamics and Mathematical Application Center, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
- Department of Applied Mathematics, Kyunghee University, Yongin-si, Republic of Korea
| | - Changhoon Kim
- Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Pusan National University, Busan, Republic of Korea
- Busan Center for Infectious Disease Control and Prevention, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Republic of Korea
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Jones EC, Rodriguez D, Gimeno Ruiz de Porras D, Kurian A, Tsai J. The Role of Location in the Spread of SARS-CoV-2: Examination of Cases and Exposed Contacts in South Texas, Using Social Network Analysis. Disaster Med Public Health Prep 2023; 17:e516. [PMID: 37870127 DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2023.189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This study sought to better understand the types of locations that serve as hubs for the transmission of COVID-19. METHODS Contact tracers interviewed individuals who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between November 2020 and March 2021, as well as the people with whom those individuals had contact. We conducted a 2-mode social network analysis of people by the types of places they visited, focusing on the forms of centrality exhibited by place types. RESULTS The most exposed locations were grocery stores, commercial stores, restaurants, commercial services, and schools. These types of locations also have the highest "betweenness," meaning that they tend to serve as hubs between other kinds of locations since people would usually visit more than 1 location in a day or when infected. The highest pairs of locations were grocery store/retail store, restaurant/retail store, and restaurant/grocery store. Schools are not at the top but are 3 times in the top 7 pairs of locations and connected to the 3 types of locations in those top pairs. CONCLUSIONS As the pandemic progressed, location hotspots shifted between businesses, schools, and homes. In this social network analysis, certain types of locations appeared to be potential hubs of transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric C Jones
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Daniella Rodriguez
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, Houston, TX, USA
| | - David Gimeno Ruiz de Porras
- Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, Houston, TX, USA
- Center for Research in Occupational Health (CiSAL), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health, Madrid, Spain
| | - Anita Kurian
- San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Jack Tsai
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, Houston, TX, USA
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3
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Xu X, Wu Y, Kummer AG, Zhao Y, Hu Z, Wang Y, Liu H, Ajelli M, Yu H. Assessing changes in incubation period, serial interval, and generation time of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Med 2023; 21:374. [PMID: 37775772 PMCID: PMC10541713 DOI: 10.1186/s12916-023-03070-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/01/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND After the first COVID-19 wave caused by the ancestral lineage, the pandemic has been fueled from the continuous emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. Understanding key time-to-event periods for each emerging variant of concern is critical as it can provide insights into the future trajectory of the virus and help inform outbreak preparedness and response planning. Here, we aim to examine how the incubation period, serial interval, and generation time have changed from the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 lineage to different variants of concern. METHODS We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis that synthesized the estimates of incubation period, serial interval, and generation time (both realized and intrinsic) for the ancestral lineage, Alpha, Beta, and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2. RESULTS Our study included 280 records obtained from 147 household studies, contact tracing studies, or studies where epidemiological links were known. With each emerging variant, we found a progressive shortening of each of the analyzed key time-to-event periods, although we did not find statistically significant differences between the Omicron subvariants. We found that Omicron BA.1 had the shortest pooled estimates for the incubation period (3.49 days, 95% CI: 3.13-4.86 days), Omicron BA.5 for the serial interval (2.37 days, 95% CI: 1.71-3.04 days), and Omicron BA.1 for the realized generation time (2.99 days, 95% CI: 2.48-3.49 days). Only one estimate for the intrinsic generation time was available for Omicron subvariants: 6.84 days (95% CrI: 5.72-8.60 days) for Omicron BA.1. The ancestral lineage had the highest pooled estimates for each investigated key time-to-event period. We also observed shorter pooled estimates for the serial interval compared to the incubation period across the virus lineages. When pooling the estimates across different virus lineages, we found considerable heterogeneities (I2 > 80%; I2 refers to the percentage of total variation across studies that is due to heterogeneity rather than chance), possibly resulting from heterogeneities between the different study populations (e.g., deployed interventions, social behavior, demographic characteristics). CONCLUSIONS Our study supports the importance of conducting contact tracing and epidemiological investigations to monitor changes in SARS-CoV-2 transmission patterns. Our findings highlight a progressive shortening of the incubation period, serial interval, and generation time, which can lead to epidemics that spread faster, with larger peak incidence, and harder to control. We also consistently found a shorter serial interval than incubation period, suggesting that a key feature of SARS-CoV-2 is the potential for pre-symptomatic transmission. These observations are instrumental to plan for future COVID-19 waves.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangyanyu Xu
- School of Public Health, Fudan University, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China
| | - Yanpeng Wu
- Shanghai Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Allisandra G Kummer
- Laboratory of Computational Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Yuchen Zhao
- Shanghai Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Zexin Hu
- Shanghai Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yan Wang
- School of Public Health, Fudan University, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China
| | - Hengcong Liu
- School of Public Health, Fudan University, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China
| | - Marco Ajelli
- Laboratory of Computational Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health, Bloomington, IN, USA.
| | - Hongjie Yu
- School of Public Health, Fudan University, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China.
- Shanghai Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
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4
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Alpers R, Kühne L, Truong HP, Zeeb H, Westphal M, Jäckle S. Evaluation of the EsteR Toolkit for COVID-19 Decision Support: Sensitivity Analysis and Usability Study. JMIR Form Res 2023; 7:e44549. [PMID: 37368487 DOI: 10.2196/44549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Revised: 05/14/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND During the COVID-19 pandemic, local health authorities were responsible for managing and reporting current cases in Germany. Since March 2020, employees had to contain the spread of COVID-19 by monitoring and contacting infected persons as well as tracing their contacts. In the EsteR project, we implemented existing and newly developed statistical models as decision support tools to assist in the work of the local health authorities. OBJECTIVE The main goal of this study was to validate the EsteR toolkit in two complementary ways: first, investigating the stability of the answers provided by our statistical tools regarding model parameters in the back end and, second, evaluating the usability and applicability of our web application in the front end by test users. METHODS For model stability assessment, a sensitivity analysis was carried out for all 5 developed statistical models. The default parameters of our models as well as the test ranges of the model parameters were based on a previous literature review on COVID-19 properties. The obtained answers resulting from different parameters were compared using dissimilarity metrics and visualized using contour plots. In addition, the parameter ranges of general model stability were identified. For the usability evaluation of the web application, cognitive walk-throughs and focus group interviews were conducted with 6 containment scouts located at 2 different local health authorities. They were first asked to complete small tasks with the tools and then express their general impressions of the web application. RESULTS The simulation results showed that some statistical models were more sensitive to changes in their parameters than others. For each of the single-person use cases, we determined an area where the respective model could be rated as stable. In contrast, the results of the group use cases highly depended on the user inputs, and thus, no area of parameters with general model stability could be identified. We have also provided a detailed simulation report of the sensitivity analysis. In the user evaluation, the cognitive walk-throughs and focus group interviews revealed that the user interface needed to be simplified and more information was necessary as guidance. In general, the testers rated the web application as helpful, especially for new employees. CONCLUSIONS This evaluation study allowed us to refine the EsteR toolkit. Using the sensitivity analysis, we identified suitable model parameters and analyzed how stable the statistical models were in terms of changes in their parameters. Furthermore, the front end of the web application was improved with the results of the conducted cognitive walk-throughs and focus group interviews regarding its user-friendliness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rieke Alpers
- Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS, Bremen, Germany
| | - Lisa Kühne
- Department of Prevention and Evaluation, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS, Bremen, Germany
| | - Hong-Phuc Truong
- Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM, Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Hajo Zeeb
- Department of Prevention and Evaluation, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS, Bremen, Germany
| | - Max Westphal
- Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS, Bremen, Germany
| | - Sonja Jäckle
- Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS, Lübeck, Germany
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Khairy A, Elhussein N, Elbadri O, Mohamed S, Malik EM. Epidemiology of COVID-19 among Children and Adolescents in Sudan 2020-2021. EPIDEMIOLOGIA 2023; 4:247-254. [PMID: 37489496 PMCID: PMC10366901 DOI: 10.3390/epidemiologia4030025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2023] [Revised: 04/30/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 07/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Children and adolescents account for a small proportion of confirmed COVID-19 cases, with mild and self-limiting clinical manifestations. The distribution and determinants of COVID-19 among this group in Sudan are unclear. This study used national COVID-19 surveillance data to study the epidemiology of COVID-19 among children and adolescents in Sudan during 2020-2021. A cross-sectional study was performed to estimate the reported incidence of children and adolescents with COVID-19; the clinical features; and the mortality among those who tested positive for COVID-19. A total of 3150 suspected cases of COVID-19 infection fulfilled the study criteria. The majority of cases were above 10 years of age, 52% (1635) were males, and 56% (1765) were asymptomatic. The reported incidence rates of COVID-19 among children and adolescents in Sudan was 1.3 per 10,000 in 2021. Fever, cough, and headache were the most frequent symptoms reported among the suspected cases. The case fatality rate was 0.2%. Binary logistic regression revealed that loss of smell was the most significantly associated symptom with a positive test. We recommend further study to identify risk factors. Additionally, we recommend including these age groups in the vaccination strategy in Sudan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amna Khairy
- Sudan FETP Graduates, Federal Ministry of Health, Khartoum 11111, Sudan
- FETP Technical Coordinator, EMPHNET, Khartoum 11111, Sudan
| | - Narmin Elhussein
- Sudan FETP Graduates, Blue Nile National Institute for Communicable Disease, Gezira 21111, Sudan
| | - Omer Elbadri
- Sudan FETP Graduates, Federal Ministry of Health, Khartoum 11111, Sudan
| | - Sanad Mohamed
- Sudan FETP Graduates, Federal Ministry of Health, Khartoum 11111, Sudan
| | - Elfatih M Malik
- Sudan FETP Graduates, Blue Nile National Institute for Communicable Disease, Gezira 21111, Sudan
- Associate Professor of Community Medicine, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum and GHD/EMPHNET Consultant for EBS in Sudan, Khartoum 11111, Sudan
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6
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Butt MJ, Malik AK, Qamar N, Yar S, Malik AJ, Rauf U. A Survey on COVID-19 Data Analysis Using AI, IoT, and Social Media. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 23:5543. [PMID: 37420714 DOI: 10.3390/s23125543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2023] [Revised: 06/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/09/2023]
Abstract
Coronaviruses are a well-established and deadly group of viruses that cause illness in both humans and animals. The novel type of this virus group, named COVID-19, was firstly reported in December 2019, and, with the passage of time, coronavirus has spread to almost all parts of the world. Coronavirus has been the cause of millions of deaths around the world. Furthermore, many countries are struggling with COVID-19 and have experimented with various kinds of vaccines to eliminate the deadly virus and its variants. This survey deals with COVID-19 data analysis and its impact on human social life. Data analysis and information related to coronavirus can greatly help scientists and governments in controlling the spread and symptoms of the deadly coronavirus. In this survey, we cover many areas of discussion related to COVID-19 data analysis, such as how artificial intelligence, along with machine learning, deep learning, and IoT, have worked together to fight against COVID-19. We also discuss artificial intelligence and IoT techniques used to forecast, detect, and diagnose patients of the novel coronavirus. Moreover, this survey also describes how fake news, doctored results, and conspiracy theories were spread over social media sites, such as Twitter, by applying various social network analysis and sentimental analysis techniques. A comprehensive comparative analysis of existing techniques has also been conducted. In the end, the Discussion section presents different data analysis techniques, provides future directions for research, and suggests general guidelines for handling coronavirus, as well as changing work and life conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Junaid Butt
- Department of Computer Science, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Islamabad 45550, Pakistan
| | - Ahmad Kamran Malik
- Department of Computer Science, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Islamabad 45550, Pakistan
| | - Nafees Qamar
- School of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Bryant University, Smithfield, RI 02917, USA
| | - Samad Yar
- Department of Computer Science, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Islamabad 45550, Pakistan
| | - Arif Jamal Malik
- Department of Software Engineering, Foundation University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
| | - Usman Rauf
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522, USA
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7
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Rahman AABA. Successful Role of Data Science In Managing Covid-19 Battle. 2023 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND SMART COMMUNICATION (AISC) 2023. [DOI: 10.1109/aisc56616.2023.10085065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/01/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Azrul Azlan Bin Abd Rahman
- National Defence University Malaysia,Research Fellow, Centre for Defence and International Studies (CDISS),Kuala Lumpur,57000
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8
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The impact of the secondary infections in ICU patients affected by COVID-19 during three different phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Clin Exp Med 2022:10.1007/s10238-022-00959-1. [PMID: 36459278 PMCID: PMC9717567 DOI: 10.1007/s10238-022-00959-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Microbial secondary infections can contribute to an increase in the risk of mortality in COVID-19 patients, particularly in case of severe diseases. In this study, we collected and evaluated the clinical, laboratory and microbiological data of COVID-19 critical ill patients requiring intensive care (ICU) to evaluate the significance and the prognostic value of these parameters. One hundred seventy-eight ICU patients with severe COVID-19, hospitalized at the S. Francesco Hospital of Nuoro (Italy) in the period from March 2020 to May 2021, were enrolled in this study. Clinical data and microbiological results were collected. Blood chemistry parameters, relative to three different time points, were analyzed through multivariate and univariate statistical approaches. Seventy-four percent of the ICU COVID-19 patients had a negative outcome, while 26% had a favorable prognosis. A correlation between the laboratory parameters and days of hospitalization of the patients was observed with significant differences between the two groups. Moreover, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Candida spp, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the most frequently isolated microorganisms from all clinical specimens. Secondary infections play an important role in the clinical outcome. The analysis of the blood chemistry tests was found useful in monitoring the progression of COVID-19.
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9
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Altuntas F, Altuntas S, Dereli T. Social network analysis of tourism data: A case study of quarantine decisions in COVID-19 pandemic. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT DATA INSIGHTS 2022. [PMCID: PMC9364723 DOI: 10.1016/j.jjimei.2022.100108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Tourism is one of the most affected sector during the COVID-19 pandemic all over the world. Quarantine decisions are the leading measures taken in practice to reduce possible negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is limited work in the literature on how to make the right quarantine decisions in a pandemic. Therefore, the aim of this study is to propose the use of social network analysis (SNA) based on tourism data to make the right quarantine decisions in the COVID-19 pandemic. A case study on quarantine decision is conducted based on data obtained from Turkish Statistical Institute to show how to perform SNA. Household domestic tourism survey is used as input data for SNA. The most critical region among 12 regions in Türkiye is Istanbul to decrease possible negative affect of COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism sector.
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Application of CCTV Methodology to Analyze COVID-19 Evolution in Italy. BIOTECH 2022; 11:biotech11030033. [PMID: 35997341 PMCID: PMC9460631 DOI: 10.3390/biotech11030033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Revised: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Italy was one of the European countries most afflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2020 to 2022, Italy adopted strong containment measures against the COVID-19 epidemic and then started an important vaccination campaign. Here, we extended previous work by applying the COVID-19 Community Temporal Visualizer (CCTV) methodology to Italian COVID-19 data related to 2020, 2021, and five months of 2022. The aim of this work was to evaluate how Italy reacted to the pandemic in the first two waves of COVID-19, in which only containment measures such as the lockdown had been adopted, in the months following the start of the vaccination campaign, the months with the mildest weather, and the months affected by the new COVID-19 variants. This assessment was conducted by observing the behavior of single regions. CCTV methodology allows us to map the similarities in the behavior of Italian regions on a graph and use a community detection algorithm to visualize and analyze the spatio-temporal evolution of data. The results depict that the communities formed by Italian regions change with respect to the ten data measures and time.
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11
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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among Registered Nurses and Nursing Students in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study. PSYCH 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/psych4030032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
(1) Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder characterized by a range of syndromal responses to extreme stressors. The present study aimed to explore any differences in PTSD between registered nurses and nursing students, according to sex and nursing experience, during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2): Methods: An observational descriptive study was conducted among Italian nurses and nursing students during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. An online questionnaire was distributed in an anonymous form through the Google function of Google Modules to some social pages and nursing groups. (3) Results: In total, 576 participants were enrolled in this study. Of these, 291 (50.50%) were registered nurses and 285 (49.50%) were nursing students. By considering the Impact of Event Scale—Revised values in nurses and in nursing students according to sex, a significant difference was reported in the avoidance sub-dimension (p = 0.024), as female nurses recorded higher levels than nursing students. No further significant differences were suggested by considering both sex and nursing experience, respectively. (4) Conclusion: PTSD could be a serious consequence for both nurses and nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Carmassi C, Pedrinelli V, Dell'Oste V, Bertelloni CA, Grossi C, Gesi C, Cerveri G, Dell'Osso L. PTSD and Depression in Healthcare Workers in the Italian Epicenter of the COVID-19 Outbreak. Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health 2022; 17:242-252. [PMID: 35173794 PMCID: PMC8728562 DOI: 10.2174/1745017902117010242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2021] [Revised: 08/12/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Background: Increasing evidence highlights the susceptibility of Healthcare Workers to develop psychopathological sequelae, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression, in the current COronaVIrus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic, but little data have been reported in the acute phase of the pandemic. Objective: To explore Healthcare Workers’ mental health reactions in the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first European epicenter (Lodi/Codogno, Italy), with particular attention to post-traumatic stress and depressive symptoms and their interplay with other psychological outcomes. Methods: 74 Healthcare Workers employed at the Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale of Lodi (Lombardy, Italy) were recruited and assessed by means of the Impact of Event Scale- Revised, the Professional Quality of Life Scale-5, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 item, the Resilience Scale and the Work and Social Adjustment Scale. Socio-demographic and clinical variables were compared across three subgroups of the sample (No PTSD, PTSD only, PTSD and depression). Results: A total of 31% of subjects endorsed a diagnosis of PTSD and 28.4% reported PTSD comorbid with major depression. Females were more prone to develop post-traumatic stress and depressive symptoms. Subjects with PTSD and depression groups showed high levels of PTSD, depression, burnout and impairment in functioning. Anxiety symptoms were higher in both PTSD and depression and PTSD groups rather than in the No PTSD group. Conclusion: Our results showed high rates of PTSD and depression among Healthcare Workers and their comorbidity overall being associated with worse outcomes. Current findings suggest that interventions to prevent and treat psychological implications among Healthcare Workers facing infectious outbreaks are needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Carmassi
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Virginia Pedrinelli
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Valerio Dell'Oste
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
| | | | - Chiara Grossi
- Department of Mental Health and Addiction, ASST Lodi, Lodi, Italy
| | - Camilla Gesi
- Department of Mental Health and Addiction, ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco, Milan, Italy
| | | | - Liliana Dell'Osso
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
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13
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Xiang L, Ma S, Yu L, Wang W, Yin Z. Modeling the Global Dynamic Contagion of COVID-19. Front Public Health 2022; 9:809987. [PMID: 35096753 PMCID: PMC8795671 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.809987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 infections have profoundly and negatively impacted the whole world. Hence, we have modeled the dynamic spread of global COVID-19 infections with the connectedness approach based on the TVP-VAR model, using the data of confirmed COVID-19 cases during the period of March 23rd, 2020 to September 10th, 2021 in 18 countries. The results imply that, (i) the United States, the United Kingdom and Indonesia are global epidemic centers, among which the United States has the highest degree of the contagion of the COVID-19 infections, which is stable. South Korea, France and Italy are the main receiver of the contagion of the COVID-19 infections, and South Korea has been the most severely affected by the overseas epidemic; (ii) there is a negative correlation between the timeliness, effectiveness and mandatory nature of government policies and the risk of the associated countries COVID-19 epidemic affecting, as well as the magnitude of the net contagion of domestic COVID-19; (iii) the severity of domestic COVID-19 epidemics in the United States and Canada, Canada and Mexico, Indonesia and Canada is almost equivalent, especially for the United States, Canada and Mexico, whose domestic epidemics are with the same tendency; (iv) the COVID-19 epidemic has spread though not only the central divergence manner and chain mode of transmission, but also the way of feedback loop. Thus, more efforts should be made by the governments to enhance the pertinence and compulsion of their epidemic prevention policies and establish a systematic and efficient risk assessment mechanism for public health emergencies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lijin Xiang
- School of Finance, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan, China
| | - Shiqun Ma
- School of Finance, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan, China
| | - Lu Yu
- School of Finance, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan, China
| | - Wenhao Wang
- School of Finance, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan, China
| | - Zhichao Yin
- School of Finance, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan, China
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14
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Wang Y, Zhao Y, Pan Q. Advances, challenges and opportunities of phylogenetic and social network analysis using COVID-19 data. Brief Bioinform 2021; 23:6380452. [PMID: 34601563 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbab406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has attracted research interests from all fields. Phylogenetic and social network analyses based on connectivity between either COVID-19 patients or geographic regions and similarity between syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequences provide unique angles to answer public health and pharmaco-biological questions such as relationships between various SARS-CoV-2 mutants, the transmission pathways in a community and the effectiveness of prevention policies. This paper serves as a systematic review of current phylogenetic and social network analyses with applications in COVID-19 research. Challenges in current phylogenetic network analysis on SARS-CoV-2 such as unreliable inferences, sampling bias and batch effects are discussed as well as potential solutions. Social network analysis combined with epidemiology models helps to identify key transmission characteristics and measure the effectiveness of prevention and control strategies. Finally, future new directions of network analysis motivated by COVID-19 data are summarized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Wang
- School of Mathematical and Natural Science, Arizona State University, 4701 W Thunderbird Rd, 85306, Arizona, USA
| | - Yunpeng Zhao
- School of Mathematical and Natural Science, Arizona State University, 4701 W Thunderbird Rd, 85306, Arizona, USA
| | - Qing Pan
- Department of Statistics, George Washington University, 801 22nd St. NW, 20052, Washington DC, USA
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15
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Mata AS, Dourado SMP. Mathematical modeling applied to epidemics: an overview. THE SAO PAULO JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES 2021; 15:1025-1044. [PMID: 38624924 PMCID: PMC8482738 DOI: 10.1007/s40863-021-00268-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
This work presents an overview of the evolution of mathematical modeling applied to the context of epidemics and the advances in modeling in epidemiological studies. In fact, mathematical treatments have contributed substantially in the epidemiology area since the formulation of the famous SIR (susceptible-infected-recovered) model, in the beginning of the 20th century. We presented the SIR deterministic model and we also showed a more realistic application of this model applying a stochastic approach in complex networks. Nowadays, computational tools, such as big data and complex networks, in addition to mathematical modeling and statistical analysis, have been shown to be essential to understand the developing of the disease and the scale of the emerging outbreak. These issues are fundamental concerns to guide public health policies. Lately, the current pandemic caused by the new coronavirus further enlightened the importance of mathematical modeling associated with computational and statistical tools. For this reason, we intend to bring basic knowledge of mathematical modeling applied to epidemiology to a broad audience. We show the progress of this field of knowledge over the years, as well as the technical part involving several numerical tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angélica S. Mata
- Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Lavras, 37200-900 Lavras, MG Brazil
| | - Stela M. P. Dourado
- Departamento de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Lavras, 37200-900 Lavras, MG Brazil
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16
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Cheng C, Zhang D, Dang D, Geng J, Zhu P, Yuan M, Liang R, Yang H, Jin Y, Xie J, Chen S, Duan G. The incubation period of COVID-19: a global meta-analysis of 53 studies and a Chinese observation study of 11 545 patients. Infect Dis Poverty 2021; 10:119. [PMID: 34535192 PMCID: PMC8446477 DOI: 10.1186/s40249-021-00901-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2021] [Accepted: 09/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The incubation period is a crucial index of epidemiology in understanding the spread of the emerging Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, we aimed to describe the incubation period of COVID-19 globally and in the mainland of China. METHODS The searched studies were published from December 1, 2019 to May 26, 2021 in CNKI, Wanfang, PubMed, and Embase databases. A random-effect model was used to pool the mean incubation period. Meta-regression was used to explore the sources of heterogeneity. Meanwhile, we collected 11 545 patients in the mainland of China outside Hubei from January 19, 2020 to September 21, 2020. The incubation period fitted with the Log-normal model by the coarseDataTools package. RESULTS A total of 3235 articles were searched, 53 of which were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled mean incubation period of COVID-19 was 6.0 days (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.6-6.5) globally, 6.5 days (95% CI 6.1-6.9) in the mainland of China, and 4.6 days (95% CI 4.1-5.1) outside the mainland of China (P = 0.006). The incubation period varied with age (P = 0.005). Meanwhile, in 11 545 patients, the mean incubation period was 7.1 days (95% CI 7.0-7.2), which was similar to the finding in our meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS For COVID-19, the mean incubation period was 6.0 days globally but near 7.0 days in the mainland of China, which will help identify the time of infection and make disease control decisions. Furthermore, attention should also be paid to the region- or age-specific incubation period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheng Cheng
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China
| | - DongDong Zhang
- Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China
| | - Dejian Dang
- Infection Prevention and Control Department, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No.3 Kangfuqian Street, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, People's Republic of China
| | - Juan Geng
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China
| | - Peiyu Zhu
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China
| | - Mingzhu Yuan
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China
| | - Ruonan Liang
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China
| | - Haiyan Yang
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China
| | - Yuefei Jin
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China
| | - Jing Xie
- Henan Key Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China
- Centre for Biostatistics and Clinical Trials (BaCT), Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, No. 305 Grattan Street, Melbourne, 3000, Victoria, Australia
| | - Shuaiyin Chen
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China.
| | - Guangcai Duan
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China.
- Henan Key Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, People's Republic of China.
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17
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Guan C, Liu W, Cheng JYC. Using Social Media to Predict the Stock Market Crash and Rebound amid the Pandemic: The Digital 'Haves' and 'Have-mores'. ANNALS OF DATA SCIENCE 2021; 9:5-31. [PMID: 38624926 PMCID: PMC8440154 DOI: 10.1007/s40745-021-00353-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Revised: 06/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/30/2021] [Indexed: 10/29/2022]
Abstract
Since the 2019 novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread across the globe, risks brought by the pandemic set in and stock markets tumbled worldwide. Amidst the bleak economic outlook, investors' concerns over the pandemic spread rapidly through social media but wore out shortly. Similarly, the crash only caused a relatively short-lived bear market, which bottomed out and recovered quickly. Meanwhile, technology stocks have grabbed the spotlight as the digitally advanced sectors seemed to show resilience in this Coronavirus-plagued market. This paper aims to examine market sentiments using social media to predict the stock market performance before, during and after the March 2020 stock market crash. In addition, using the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Taxonomy of Sectoral Digital-intensity Framework, we identified market sectors that have outperformed others as the market sentiment was impacted by the unfolding of the pandemic. The daily stock performance of a usable sample of 1619 firms from 34 sectors was first examined via a combination of hierarchical clustering and shape-based distance measure. This was then tested against a time series of daily price changes through augmented vector auto-regression. Results show that market sentiments towards the pandemic have significantly impacted the price differences. More interestingly, the stock performance across sectors is characterized by the level of digital intensity, with the most digitally advanced sectors demonstrating resilience against negative market sentiments on the pandemic. This research is among the first to demonstrate how digital intensity mitigates the negative effect of a crisis on stock market performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chong Guan
- Office of Graduate Studies, Singapore University of Social Sciences, 463 Clementi Rd, Singapore, 599494 Singapore
| | - Wenting Liu
- School of Business, Singapore University of Social Sciences, 463 Clementi Rd, Singapore, 599494 Singapore
| | - Jack Yu-Chao Cheng
- Intellectual Property Office of Singapore International, 1 Paya Lebar Link #11-03 PLQ 1, Paya Lebar Quarter, Singapore, 408533 Singapore
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18
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Wang P. Statistical Identification of Important Nodes in Biological Systems. JOURNAL OF SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND COMPLEXITY 2021; 34:1454-1470. [PMID: 34393461 PMCID: PMC8353063 DOI: 10.1007/s11424-020-0013-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Revised: 05/23/2020] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Biological systems can be modeled and described by biological networks. Biological networks are typical complex networks with widely real-world applications. Many problems arising in biological systems can be boiled down to the identification of important nodes. For example, biomedical researchers frequently need to identify important genes that potentially leaded to disease phenotypes in animal and explore crucial genes that were responsible for stress responsiveness in plants. To facilitate the identification of important nodes in biological systems, one needs to know network structures or behavioral data of nodes (such as gene expression data). If network topology was known, various centrality measures can be developed to solve the problem; while if only behavioral data of nodes were given, some sophisticated statistical methods can be employed. This paper reviewed some of the recent works on statistical identification of important nodes in biological systems from three aspects, that is, 1) in general complex networks based on complex networks theory and epidemic dynamic models; 2) in biological networks based on network motifs; and 3) in plants based on RNA-seq data. The identification of important nodes in a complex system can be seen as a mapping from the system to the ranking score vector of nodes, such mapping is not necessarily with explicit form. The three aspects reflected three typical approaches on ranking nodes in biological systems and can be integrated into one general framework. This paper also proposed some challenges and future works on the related topics. The associated investigations have potential real-world applications in the control of biological systems, network medicine and new variety cultivation of crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pei Wang
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Institute of Applied Mathematics, Laboratory of Data Analysis Technology, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004 China
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19
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Milano M, Zucco C, Cannataro M. COVID-19 Community Temporal Visualizer: a new methodology for the network-based analysis and visualization of COVID-19 data. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2021; 10:46. [PMID: 34249598 PMCID: PMC8253246 DOI: 10.1007/s13721-021-00323-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2021] [Revised: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the evolution of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic requires the analysis of several data at the spatial and temporal levels. Here, we present a new network-based methodology to analyze COVID-19 data measures containing spatial and temporal features and its application on a real dataset. The goal of the methodology is to analyze sets of homogeneous datasets (i.e. COVID-19 data taken in different periods and in several regions) using a statistical test to find similar/dissimilar datasets, mapping such similarity information on a graph and then using a community detection algorithm to visualize and analyze the spatio-temporal evolution of data. We evaluated diverse Italian COVID-19 data made publicly available by the Italian Protezione Civile Department at https://github.com/pcm-dpc/COVID-19/. Furthermore, we considered the climate data related to two periods and we integrated them with COVID-19 data measures to detect new communities related to climate changes. In conclusion, the application of the proposed methodology provides a network-based representation of the COVID-19 measures by highlighting the different behaviour of regions with respect to pandemics data released by Protezione Civile and climate data. The methodology and its implementation as R function are publicly available at https://github.com/mmilano87/analyzeC19D.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianna Milano
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, 88100 Italy.,Data Analytics Research Center, University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Catanzaro, 88100 Italy
| | - Chiara Zucco
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, 88100 Italy.,Data Analytics Research Center, University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Catanzaro, 88100 Italy
| | - Mario Cannataro
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, 88100 Italy.,Data Analytics Research Center, University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Catanzaro, 88100 Italy
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20
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Zhang Q, Zhu J, Jia C, Xu S, Jiang T, Wang S. Epidemiology and Clinical Outcomes of COVID-19 Patients in Northwestern China Who Had a History of Exposure in Wuhan City: Departure Time-Originated Pinpoint Surveillance. Front Med (Lausanne) 2021; 8:582299. [PMID: 34124080 PMCID: PMC8192719 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2021.582299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2020] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Most COVID-19 patients cannot provide a clear exposure time; therefore, this study was designed to predict the progression of COVID-19 by using the definite departure time from Wuhan. Methods: In this retrospective study, all cases were selected from Northwestern China, which has the lowest population density. As our study endpoints, the incubation period was defined as the date of departure from Wuhan City to the date of symptom onset; we defined the confirmed time as the interval from symptom onset to positive results (samples from the respiratory tract). Both of them were estimated by fitting a Weibull distribution on the departure date and symptom onset. The differences among the variables were analyzed. Results: A total of 139 patients were ultimately enrolled, and ~10.1% of patients (14 patients) had no symptoms during their disease course. We estimated the median incubation period to be 4.0 days (interquartile intervals, 2.0-8.0), and the 95th percentile of the distribution was 15.0 days. Moreover, ~5.6% of patients (7 patients) experienced symptoms 2 weeks after leaving. Furthermore, the estimation median interval from symptom onset to final diagnosis was 4.0 days (interquartile intervals, 2.0-6.0), and the 95th percentile of the distribution was 12.0 days. Finally, the median hospitalization time was 16.0 days, ranging from 3.0 to 45.0 days. Univariate analysis showed that age (P = 0.021) and severity status (P = 0.001) were correlated significantly with hospitalization time. Conclusions: We provide evidence that departure time can be used to estimate the incubation and confirmed times of patients infected with COVID-19 when they leave an epidemic area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qingqing Zhang
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jianfei Zhu
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China.,Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, China
| | - Chenghui Jia
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China.,Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Shuonan Xu
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Tao Jiang
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
| | - Shengyu Wang
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University, Xi'an, China
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21
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Zhu J, Zhang Q, Jia C, Xu S, Lei J, Chen J, Xia Y, Wang W, Wang X, Wen M, Wang H, Zhang Z, Wang W, Zhao J, Jiang T. Challenges Caused by Imported Cases Abroad for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 in China. Front Med (Lausanne) 2021; 8:573726. [PMID: 34095156 PMCID: PMC8172980 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2021.573726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2020] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Overseas imported cases of COVID-19 continue to increase in China, so we conducted this study to review the epidemiological characteristics of these patients. Methods: From February 26 to April 4, 2020, the imported cases from abroad were enrolled in this study. The effect of prevention countermeasures in curbing the spread of COVID-19 was assessed in this study. Moreover, we defined incubation period and confirmed time as from the date of leaving the epicenter to date of symptom onset and date of final diagnosed, respectively, and the interval of symptom onset to final diagnosed time was defined as diagnostic time. Categorical variables were summarized as numbers and percentages, and the difference among the variables were analyzed. Results: For 670 cases imported from abroad, 555 were Chinese and 115 were foreigners. Apparently, confirmed cases had significantly decreased after China was compelled to temporarily suspend the entry of foreign passport holders with valid visas or residence permits; 6 days after implement of controlled measures, the daily new confirmed cases were reduced to 13 cases. Moreover, about 84.3% of patients (166/197) presented symptoms 1 week after leaving the epicenter, and notably seven patients (3.6%) had symptoms 2 weeks after leaving the epicenter. The median incubation period was 3.0 days (inter quartile range, 1.0 to 6.0), the 95th percentile was 11.6 days. Additionally, most of cases (92.9%) were detected positively of nucleic acid after symptom onset with 4 days, the median diagnostic time was 2.0 days (interquartile range, 1.0 to 3.0), and the 95th percentile of the distribution was 5.0 days. Finally, about 5.8% of patients were healthy carriers, and the median confirmed time of asymptomatic patients was 4.0 days (interquartile range, 2.0 to 9.0). The following variables might be associated with confirmed time: symptom type (P = 0.005), exported regions (P < 0.001), and symptom onset time (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The prevention countermeasures for imported cases implemented by the Chinese government played an indispensable role in curbing the spread of COVID-19; the time of departure from epicenter could provide an estimate of the incubation period; and a confirmed time, 2-week quarantine period might need to be prolonged, while asymptomatic patients should be closely monitored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianfei Zhu
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China.,Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, China
| | - Qingqing Zhang
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Chenghui Jia
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
| | - Shuonan Xu
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jie Lei
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
| | - Jiakuan Chen
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
| | - Yanmin Xia
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
| | - Wenchen Wang
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
| | - Xuejiao Wang
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
| | - Miaomiao Wen
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
| | - Hongtao Wang
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, China
| | - Zhipei Zhang
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
| | - Wuping Wang
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
| | - Jinbo Zhao
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
| | - Tao Jiang
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi'an, China
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22
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Leung C. The Incubation Period of COVID-19: Current Understanding and Modeling Technique. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2021; 1318:81-90. [PMID: 33973173 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-63761-3_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
This chapter aims to answer the following questions regarding the incubation period of COVID-19. Why is understanding the incubation period of COVID-19 important? How long is the incubation time, and what are the associating factors? How should the incubation period be modeled given the current pandemic situation? Where should we go from here? As a critical epidemiological metric, the incubation period is of public health and clinical importance. While the incubation time of COVID-19 is generally similar to that of SARS and MERS, recent studies identifying factors that impact the incubation period of COVID-19, travel history, for example, only tell part of the story. Therefore, in addition to reviewing current findings, this chapter also explores the modeling technique and future research directions of the incubation period of COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Char Leung
- Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, Australia. .,Network of Immunity in Infection, Malignancy and Autoimmunity (NIIMA), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Burwood, VIC, Australia.
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23
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Jo W, Chang D, You M, Ghim GH. A social network analysis of the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea and policy implications. Sci Rep 2021; 11:8581. [PMID: 33883601 PMCID: PMC8060276 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-87837-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2020] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
This study estimates the COVID-19 infection network from actual data and draws on implications for policy and research. Using contact tracing information of 3283 confirmed patients in Seoul metropolitan areas from January 20, 2020 to July 19, 2020, this study created an infection network and analyzed its structural characteristics. The main results are as follows: (i) out-degrees follow an extremely positively skewed distribution; (ii) removing the top nodes on the out-degree significantly decreases the size of the infection network, and (iii) the indicators that express the infectious power of the network change according to governmental measures. Efforts to collect network data and analyze network structures are urgently required for the efficiency of governmental responses to COVID-19. Implications for better use of a metric such as R0 to estimate infection spread are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wonkwang Jo
- Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- The Institute for Social Data Science, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Republic of Korea
| | - Dukjin Chang
- Department of Sociology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
| | - Myoungsoon You
- Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Ghi-Hoon Ghim
- Department of Sociology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- CYRAM Inc., Seongnam, Republic of Korea
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24
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Dhouib W, Maatoug J, Ayouni I, Zammit N, Ghammem R, Fredj SB, Ghannem H. The incubation period during the pandemic of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Syst Rev 2021; 10:101. [PMID: 33832511 PMCID: PMC8031340 DOI: 10.1186/s13643-021-01648-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2020] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The aim of our study was to determine through a systematic review and meta-analysis the incubation period of COVID-19. It was conducted based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA). Criteria for eligibility were all published population-based primary literature in PubMed interface and the Science Direct, dealing with incubation period of COVID-19, written in English, since December 2019 to December 2020. We estimated the mean of the incubation period using meta-analysis, taking into account between-study heterogeneity, and the analysis with moderator variables. RESULTS This review included 42 studies done predominantly in China. The mean and median incubation period were of maximum 8 days and 12 days respectively. In various parametric models, the 95th percentiles were in the range 10.3-16 days. The highest 99th percentile would be as long as 20.4 days. Out of the 10 included studies in the meta-analysis, 8 were conducted in China, 1 in Singapore, and 1 in Argentina. The pooled mean incubation period was 6.2 (95% CI 5.4, 7.0) days. The heterogeneity (I2 77.1%; p < 0.001) was decreased when we included the study quality and the method of calculation used as moderator variables (I2 0%). The mean incubation period ranged from 5.2 (95% CI 4.4 to 5.9) to 6.65 days (95% CI 6.0 to 7.2). CONCLUSIONS This work provides additional evidence of incubation period for COVID-19 and showed that it is prudent not to dismiss the possibility of incubation periods up to 14 days at this stage of the epidemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wafa Dhouib
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia.
| | - Jihen Maatoug
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia
| | - Imen Ayouni
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia
| | - Nawel Zammit
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia
| | - Rim Ghammem
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia
| | - Sihem Ben Fredj
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia
| | - Hassen Ghannem
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia
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25
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Faria de Moura Villela E, López RVM, Sato APS, de Oliveira FM, Waldman EA, Van den Bergh R, Siewe Fodjo JN, Colebunders R. COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil: adherence to national preventive measures and impact on people's lives, an online survey. BMC Public Health 2021; 21:152. [PMID: 33461508 PMCID: PMC7812554 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-10222-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2020] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The first case of COVID-19 infection was diagnosed in Brazil 26th February 2020. By March 16th, physical distancing and confinement measures were implemented by the Brazilian government. Little is known about how these measures were followed up by the Brazilian people and their impact on daily routine. Methods In early April 2020, using an online platform, we organized an online survey among adults living in Brazil about their COVID-19 preventive behavior and impact on their daily routine. Results Data from 23,896 respondents were analyzed (mean age: 47.4 years). Due to COVID-19 restrictions, half (51.1%) of the professionals reported working from home. Regular handwashing was practiced by 98.7% of participants; 92.6% reported adhering to the 1.5-2 m physical distancing rule, but only 45.5% wore a face mask when going outside. While 29.3% of respondents found it relatively easy to stay at home, indoor confinement was extremely difficult for 7.9% of participants. Moreover, 11% of participants were extremely worried about their health during the COVID-19 epidemic. Younger people, male, persons living in a rural area/village or popular neighbourhoods, students and workers reported less preventive behaviour. Conclusion Restrictive measures markedly affected the daily and professional routines of Brazilians. Participants showed a satisfactory level of adherence to national COVID-19 prevention guidelines. Qualitative and follow-up studies are needed to monitor the impact of COVID-19 in the Brazilian society. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-10222-z.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Ana Paula Sayuri Sato
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Eliseu Alves Waldman
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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26
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Wang P. Statistical Identification of Important Nodes in Biological Systems. JOURNAL OF SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND COMPLEXITY 2021:1-17. [PMID: 33456274 PMCID: PMC7801784 DOI: 10.1007/s11424-021-0001-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Revised: 05/23/2020] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
Biological systems can be modeled and described by biological networks. Biological networks are typical complex networks with widely real-world applications. Many problems arising in biological systems can be boiled down to the identification of important nodes. For example, biomedical researchers frequently need to identify important genes that potentially leaded to disease phenotypes in animal and explore crucial genes that were responsible for stress responsiveness in plants. To facilitate the identification of important nodes in biological systems, one needs to know network structures or behavioral data of nodes (such as gene expression data). If network topology was known, various centrality measures can be developed to solve the problem; while if only behavioral data of nodes were given, some sophisticated statistical methods can be employed. This paper reviewed some of the recent works on statistical identification of important nodes in biological systems from three aspects, that is, 1) in general complex networks based on complex networks theory and epidemic dynamic models; 2) in biological networks based on network motifs; and 3) in plants based on RNA-seq data. The identification of important nodes in a complex system can be seen as a mapping from the system to the ranking score vector of nodes, such mapping is not necessarily with explicit form. The three aspects reflected three typical approaches on ranking nodes in biological systems and can be integrated into one general framework. This paper also proposed some challenges and future works on the related topics. The associated investigations have potential real-world applications in the control of biological systems, network medicine and new variety cultivation of crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pei Wang
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Institute of Applied Mathematics, Laboratory of Data Analysis Technology, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004 China
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27
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikita Saxena
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, India
| | - Priyanka Gupta
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, India
| | - Ruchir Raman
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, India
| | - Anurag S. Rathore
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, India
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28
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Gupta N, Saravu K, Varma M, PM A, Shetty S, Umakanth S. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Infection by Children: A Study of Contacts of Index Paediatric Cases in India. J Trop Pediatr 2020; 67:6024862. [PMID: 33280033 PMCID: PMC7798535 DOI: 10.1093/tropej/fmaa081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The susceptibility of children to coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) and transmission of COVID-19 from children to others is a relatively unexplored area. The aim of this study was to understand the transmission dynamics of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in children. This was a retrospective observational study where a total of 19 paediatric index cases (including a set of twins) with COVID-19 and 42 primary contacts (adults-36, paediatric-6) from the immediate family members were included. All the index cases and four of the five positive contacts were asymptomatic. Despite adults staying with positive children in the same vehicle, same room in the quarantine centre and the same ward, only four of the parents became positive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nitin Gupta
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India,Manipal Center for Infectious Diseases, Prasanna School of Public Health, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India
| | - Kavitha Saravu
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India,Manipal Center for Infectious Diseases, Prasanna School of Public Health, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India
| | - Muralidhar Varma
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India
| | - Afsal PM
- Department of Medicine, Dr TMA Pai Hospital, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576101, India
| | - Seema Shetty
- Department of Medicine, Dr TMA Pai Hospital, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576101, India
| | - Shashikiran Umakanth
- Department of Medicine, Dr TMA Pai Hospital, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576101, India,Correspondence: Shashikiran Umakanth, Department of Medicine, Dr TMA Pai Hospital, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Madhav Nagar, Manipal, Karnataka 576101, India. E-mail <>
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Tee LY, Alhamid SM, Tan JL, Oo TD, Chien J, Galinato P, Tan SY, Humaira S, Fong RKC, Puar TH, Loh WJ, Santosa A, Khoo J, Rosario BH. COVID-19 and Undiagnosed Pre-diabetes or Diabetes Mellitus Among International Migrant Workers in Singapore. Front Public Health 2020; 8:584249. [PMID: 33262970 PMCID: PMC7686043 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.584249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Accepted: 10/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective: Migrant workers, a marginalized and under-resourced population, are vulnerable to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to limited healthcare access. Moreover, metabolic diseases—such as diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension, and hyperlipidemia—predispose to severe complications and mortality from COVID-19. We investigate the prevalence and consequences of undiagnosed metabolic illnesses, particularly DM and pre-diabetes, in international migrant workers with COVID-19. Methods: In this retrospective analysis, we analyzed the medical records of international migrant workers with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 hospitalized at a tertiary hospital in Singapore from April 21 to June 1, 2020. We determined the prevalence of DM and pre-diabetes, and analyzed the risk of developing complications, such as pneumonia and electrolyte abnormalities, based on age and diagnosis of DM, and pre-diabetes. Results: Two hundred and fouty male migrant workers, with mean age of 44.2 years [standard deviation (SD), 8.5years], were included. Twenty one patients (8.8%) were diagnosed with pre-diabetes, and 19 (7.9%) with DM. DM was poorly controlled with a mean HbA1c of 9.9% (SD, 2.4%). 73.7% of the patients with DM and all the patients with pre-diabetes were previously undiagnosed. Pre-diabetes was associated with higher risk of pneumonia [odds ratio (OR), 10.8, 95% confidence interval (CI), 3.65–32.1; P < 0.0001], hyponatremia (OR, 8.83; 95% CI, 1.17–66.6; P = 0.0342), and hypokalemia (OR, 4.58; 95% CI, 1.52–13.82; P = 0.0069). Moreover, patients with DM or pre-diabetes developed COVID-19 infection with lower viral RNA levels. Conclusions: The high prevalence of undiagnosed pre-diabetes among international migrant workers increases their risk of pneumonia and electrolyte abnormalities from COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louis Y Tee
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | | | - Jeriel L Tan
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Theik Di Oo
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Jaime Chien
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Primavera Galinato
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Seow Yen Tan
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Shafi Humaira
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | | | - Troy H Puar
- Department of Endocrinology, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Wann Jia Loh
- Department of Endocrinology, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Anindita Santosa
- Department of Rheumatology, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Joan Khoo
- Department of Endocrinology, Changi General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
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30
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Kırbıyık U, Binder AM, Ghinai I, Zawitz C, Levin R, Samala U, Smith MB, Gubser J, Jones B, Varela K, Rafinski J, Fitzgerald A, Orris P, Bahls A, Welbel S, Mennella C, Black SR, Armstrong PA. Network Characteristics and Visualization of COVID-19 Outbreak in a Large Detention Facility in the United States - Cook County, Illinois, 2020. MMWR-MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT 2020; 69:1625-1630. [PMID: 33151915 PMCID: PMC7643900 DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6944a3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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31
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Lukman AF, Rauf RI, Abiodun O, Oludoun O, Ayinde K, Ogundokun RO. COVID-19 prevalence estimation: Four most affected African countries. Infect Dis Model 2020; 5:827-838. [PMID: 33073068 PMCID: PMC7550075 DOI: 10.1016/j.idm.2020.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Revised: 09/22/2020] [Accepted: 10/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The world at large has been confronted with several disease outbreak which has posed and still posing a serious menace to public health globally. Recently, COVID-19 a new kind of coronavirus emerge from Wuhan city in China and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. There has been a reported case of about 8622985 with global death of 457,355 as of 15.05 GMT, June 19, 2020. South-Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Ghana are the most affected African countries with this outbreak. Thus, there is a need to monitor and predict COVID-19 prevalence in this region for effective control and management. Different statistical tools and time series model such as the linear regression model and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models have been applied for disease prevalence/incidence prediction in different diseases outbreak. However, in this study, we adopted the ARIMA model to forecast the trend of COVID-19 prevalence in the aforementioned African countries. The datasets examined in this analysis spanned from February 21, 2020, to June 16, 2020, and was extracted from the World Health Organization website. ARIMA models with minimum Akaike information criterion correction (AICc) and statistically significant parameters were selected as the best models. Accordingly, the ARIMA (0,2,3), ARIMA (0,1,1), ARIMA (3,1,0) and ARIMA (0,1,2) models were chosen as the best models for SA, Nigeria, and Ghana and Egypt, respectively. Forecasting was made based on the best models. It is noteworthy to claim that the ARIMA models are appropriate for predicting the prevalence of COVID-19. We noticed a form of exponential growth in the trend of this virus in Africa in the days to come. Thus, the government and health authorities should pay attention to the pattern of COVID-19 in Africa. Necessary plans and precautions should be put in place to curb this pandemic in Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adewale F Lukman
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria
| | - Rauf I Rauf
- Department of Statistics, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria
| | - Oluwakemi Abiodun
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria
| | - Olajumoke Oludoun
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria
| | - Kayode Ayinde
- Department of Statistics, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
| | - Roseline O Ogundokun
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria
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32
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Parlakpinar H, Gunata M. SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19): Cellular and biochemical properties and pharmacological insights into new therapeutic developments. Cell Biochem Funct 2020; 39:10-28. [PMID: 32992409 PMCID: PMC7537523 DOI: 10.1002/cbf.3591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2020] [Revised: 09/01/2020] [Accepted: 09/06/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
COVID‐19 caused by SARS‐COV‐2 first appeared in the Wuhan City of China and began to spread rapidly among people. Rapid progression of the outbreak has led to a major global public health problem of a potentially fatal disease. On January 30, 2020, WHO declared the pandemic as the sixth public health emergency of the world. Upon this, the whole country has started to take the necessary precautions. The new coronavirus uses membrane‐bound angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) to enter into the cells, such as SARS‐CoV, and mostly affects the respiratory tract. Symptoms of COVID‐19 patients include fever (93%), fatigue (70%), cough (70%), anorexia (40%) and dyspnoea (34.5%). The elderly and people with underlying chronic diseases are more susceptible to infection and higher mortality. Currently, a large number of drugs and vaccines studies are ongoing. In this review, we discussed the virology, epidemiological data, the replication of the virus, and its relationship with cardiovascular diseases on COVID‐19 pandemics, treatment and vaccines. Thereby, this study aims to neatly present scientific data in light of many regarding literature that can be a clue for readers who research this disease prevention and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hakan Parlakpinar
- Department of Medical Pharmacology, Faculty of MedicineInonu UniversityMalatyaTurkey
| | - Mehmet Gunata
- Department of Medical Pharmacology, Faculty of MedicineInonu UniversityMalatyaTurkey
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33
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Saraswathi S, Mukhopadhyay A, Shah H, Ranganath TS. Social network analysis of COVID-19 transmission in Karnataka, India. Epidemiol Infect 2020; 148:e230. [PMID: 32972463 PMCID: PMC7550886 DOI: 10.1017/s095026882000223x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Revised: 09/05/2020] [Accepted: 09/18/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
We used social network analysis (SNA) to study the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Karnataka, India, and to assess the potential of SNA as a tool for outbreak monitoring and control. We analysed contact tracing data of 1147 COVID-19 positive cases (mean age 34.91 years, 61.99% aged 11-40, 742 males), anonymised and made public by the Karnataka government. Software tools, Cytoscape and Gephi, were used to create SNA graphics and determine network attributes of nodes (cases) and edges (directed links from source to target patients). Outdegree was 1-47 for 199 (17.35%) nodes, and betweenness, 0.5-87 for 89 (7.76%) nodes. Men had higher mean outdegree and women, higher mean betweenness. Delhi was the exogenous source of 17.44% cases. Bangalore city had the highest caseload in the state (229, 20%), but comparatively low cluster formation. Thirty-four (2.96%) 'super-spreaders' (outdegree ⩾ 5) caused 60% of the transmissions. Real-time social network visualisation can allow healthcare administrators to flag evolving hotspots and pinpoint key actors in transmission. Prioritising these areas and individuals for rigorous containment could help minimise resource outlay and potentially achieve a significant reduction in COVID-19 transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Saraswathi
- Department of Community Medicine, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
| | | | | | - T. S. Ranganath
- Department of Community Medicine, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
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34
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Estrada E. COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2. Modeling the present, looking at the future. PHYSICS REPORTS 2020; 869:1-51. [PMID: 32834430 PMCID: PMC7386394 DOI: 10.1016/j.physrep.2020.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Accepted: 07/27/2020] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Since December 2019 the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has produced an outbreak of pulmonary disease which has soon become a global pandemic, known as COronaVIrus Disease-19 (COVID-19). The new coronavirus shares about 82% of its genome with the one which produced the 2003 outbreak (SARS CoV-1). Both coronaviruses also share the same cellular receptor, which is the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) one. In spite of these similarities, the new coronavirus has expanded more widely, more faster and more lethally than the previous one. Many researchers across the disciplines have used diverse modeling tools to analyze the impact of this pandemic at global and local scales. This includes a wide range of approaches - deterministic, data-driven, stochastic, agent-based, and their combinations - to forecast the progression of the epidemic as well as the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions to stop or mitigate its impact on the world population. The physical complexities of modern society need to be captured by these models. This includes the many ways of social contacts - (multiplex) social contact networks, (multilayers) transport systems, metapopulations, etc. - that may act as a framework for the virus propagation. But modeling not only plays a fundamental role in analyzing and forecasting epidemiological variables, but it also plays an important role in helping to find cures for the disease and in preventing contagion by means of new vaccines. The necessity for answering swiftly and effectively the questions: could existing drugs work against SARS CoV-2? and can new vaccines be developed in time? demands the use of physical modeling of proteins, protein-inhibitors interactions, virtual screening of drugs against virus targets, predicting immunogenicity of small peptides, modeling vaccinomics and vaccine design, to mention just a few. Here, we review these three main areas of modeling research against SARS CoV-2 and COVID-19: (1) epidemiology; (2) drug repurposing; and (3) vaccine design. Therefore, we compile the most relevant existing literature about modeling strategies against the virus to help modelers to navigate this fast-growing literature. We also keep an eye on future outbreaks, where the modelers can find the most relevant strategies used in an emergency situation as the current one to help in fighting future pandemics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ernesto Estrada
- Instituto Universitario de Matemáticas y Aplicaciones, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
- ARAID Foundation, Government of Aragón, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
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35
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Milano M, Cannataro M. Statistical and Network-Based Analysis of Italian COVID-19 Data: Communities Detection and Temporal Evolution. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2020; 17:E4182. [PMID: 32545441 PMCID: PMC7344815 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17124182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2020] [Revised: 06/07/2020] [Accepted: 06/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak started in Wuhan, China, and it has rapidly spread across the world. Italy is one of the European countries most affected by COVID-19, and it has registered high COVID-19 death rates and the death toll. In this article, we analyzed different Italian COVID-19 data at the regional level for the period 24 February to 29 March 2020. The analysis pipeline includes the following steps. After individuating groups of similar or dissimilar regions with respect to the ten types of available COVID-19 data using statistical test, we built several similarity matrices. Then, we mapped those similarity matrices into networks where nodes represent Italian regions and edges represent similarity relationships (edge length is inversely proportional to similarity). Then, network-based analysis was performed mainly discovering communities of regions that show similar behavior. In particular, network-based analysis was performed by running several community detection algorithms on those networks and by underlying communities of regions that show similar behavior. The network-based analysis of Italian COVID-19 data is able to elegantly show how regions form communities, i.e., how they join and leave them, along time and how community consistency changes along time and with respect to the different available data.
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36
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Liu C, Wu X, Niu R, Wu X, Fan R. A new SAIR model on complex networks for analysing the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). NONLINEAR DYNAMICS 2020; 101:1777-1787. [PMID: 32836802 PMCID: PMC7299147 DOI: 10.1007/s11071-020-05704-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2020] [Accepted: 05/17/2020] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Nowadays, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is spreading around the world and has attracted extremely wide public attention. From the beginning of the outbreak to now, there have been many mathematical models proposed to describe the spread of the pandemic, and most of them are established with the assumption that people contact with each other in a homogeneous pattern. However, owing to the difference of individuals in reality, social contact is usually heterogeneous, and the models on homogeneous networks cannot accurately describe the outbreak. Thus, we propose a susceptible-asymptomatic-infected-removed (SAIR) model on social networks to describe the spread of COVID-19 and analyse the outbreak based on the epidemic data of Wuhan from January 24 to March 2. Then, according to the results of the simulations, we discover that the measures that can curb the spread of COVID-19 include increasing the recovery rate and the removed rate, cutting off connections between symptomatically infected individuals and their neighbours, and cutting off connections between hub nodes and their neighbours. The feasible measures proposed in the paper are in fair agreement with the measures that the government took to suppress the outbreak. Furthermore, effective measures should be carried out immediately, otherwise the pandemic would spread more rapidly and last longer. In addition, we use the epidemic data of Wuhan from January 24 to March 2 to analyse the outbreak in the city and explain why the number of the infected rose in the early stage of the outbreak though a total lockdown was implemented. Moreover, besides the above measures, a feasible way to curb the spread of COVID-19 is to reduce the density of social networks, such as restricting mobility and decreasing in-person social contacts. This work provides a series of effective measures, which can facilitate the selection of appropriate approaches for controlling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate its adverse impact on people's livelihood, societies and economies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Congying Liu
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Wuhan University, Hubei, 430072 China
| | - Xiaoqun Wu
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Wuhan University, Hubei, 430072 China
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Computational Science, Wuhan University, Hubei, 430072 China
| | - Riuwu Niu
- College of Mathematics and Statistics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060 China
| | - Xiuqi Wu
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Wuhan University, Hubei, 430072 China
| | - Ruguo Fan
- School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Hubei, 430072 China
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