Search results for "disease eradication"

Forecasting Hepatitis C liver disease burden on real-life data. Does the hidden iceberg matter to reach the elimination goals?

2018

Abstract Background & Aims Advances in direct‐acting antiviral treatment of HCV have reinvigorated public health initiatives aimed at identifying affected individuals. We evaluated the possible impact of only diagnosed and linked‐to‐care individuals on overall HCV burden estimates and identified a possible strategy to achieve the WHO targets by 2030. Methods Using a modelling approach grounded in Italian real‐life data of diagnosed and treated patients, different linkage‐to‐care scenarios were built to evaluate potential strategies in achieving the HCV elimination goals. Results Under the 40% linked‐to‐care scenario, viraemic burden would decline (60%); however, eligible patients to treat w…

Transmission Heterogeneity and Control Strategies for Infectious Disease Emergence

2007

Background The control of emergence and spread of infectious diseases depends critically on the details of the genetic makeup of pathogens and hosts, their immunological, behavioral and ecological traits, and the pattern of temporal and spatial contacts among the age/stage-classes of susceptible and infectious host individuals. Methods and Findings We show that failing to acknowledge the existence of heterogeneities in the transmission rate among age/stage-classes can make traditional eradication and control strategies ineffective, and in some cases, policies aimed at controlling pathogen emergence can even increase disease incidence in the host. When control strategies target for reduction…

Optimizing patient referral and center capacity in the management of chronic hepatitis C: Lessons from the Italian experience

2019

Abstract Aims In 2017 the Italian Drug Agency (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco, AIFA) revised the criteria for access to therapy for patients with chronic hepatitis C as part of a three-year plan to eradicate HCV. We conducted a Delphi study to determine strategies to identify and treat patients with HCV and to develop through a shared pathway, a model to manage patient referral and optimize prescription center capacity with the overall aim of increasing access to therapy. Methods The process took place in two phases – Phase I (January 2017), before the criteria for treatment of HCV were revised and Phase II (May 2017) when AIFA developed a framework for the eradication of HCV infection in Ita…

Surveillance and control of African Swine Fever in free‐ranging pigs in Sardinia

2019

SUMMARY African swine fever (ASF) is a notifiable infectious disease, caused by the ASF virus (ASFV), which is a DNA virus belonging to the family Asfarviridae, genus Asfivirus. This disease has gained importance in the last decade after its spread in several countries in Eastern and Central Europe, and more recently, in China. Despite the efforts made to eradicate it, ASF is still present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (Italy) and has been since 1978. ASF risk factors on the island have been analysed in previous studies; the role of free‐ranging pigs in virus persistence has been suggested, but has not been fully elucidated. The most recent eradication plan provides more stringent…

Will the COVID-19 pandemic affect HCV disease burden?

2020

[Vaccination against papillomavirus : arguments and evidence of effectiveness].

2020

Vaccination against papillomavirus: arguments and evidence of effectiveness. Vaccination against human papillomavirus is a major advance in the prevention of cervical cancer. Evidence of its effectiveness has accumulated over the past thirty years since basic research has demonstrated the ability of viral pseudoparticles to induce immune responses in animals. Large human clinical trials followed to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of vaccination against targeted HPV infections and their associated lesions. After its approval and marketing the vaccine efficacy was measured at the level of entire populations, confirming its effectiveness and medical interest. Today, models predict a possib…

Absolute targets for HCV elimination and national health policy paradigms: Foreseeing future requirements

2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) targets for eliminating HCV by 2030 may be overambitious for many high-income countries. Recent analyses (ie, data from 2017 to 2019) show that only 11 countries are on track for meeting WHO’s elimination targets. For a country to be truly on track, it is important that the majority of infected individuals be identified and treated. There is still a need for country and population-specific evaluations within the different HCV screening and treatment strategies available, in order to assess their cost-effectiveness and sustainability and support an evidence-based policy for HCV elimination. Any health policy model is affected by the diversity and quality o…

Is global elimination of HCV realistic?

2017

The elimination of hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been made possible through the availability of new antiviral drugs which may now be administered to all patients with HCV infection, even those with decompensated cirrhosis. The goal of the World Health Organization (WHO) is to reduce the incidence of chronic hepatitis infection from the current 6-10 million to 0.9 million cases of chronic infections by 2030, and annual deaths from 1.4 million to fewer than 0.5 million. Achieving these targets will require full implementation of epidemiological knowledge of HCV infection, screening and testing practices and strategies to link HCV patients to care. This review will focus on the current state of …

Dracunculiasis: water-borne anthroponosis vs. food-borne zoonosis.

2019

Abstract Dracunculiasis is the first parasitic disease set for eradication. However, recent events related to the Dracunculus medinensis epidemiology in certain African countries are apparently posing new challenges to its eradication. Two novel facts have emerged: the existence of animal reservoirs (mainly dogs but also cats and baboons), and possibly a new food-borne route of transmission by the ingestion of paratenic (frogs) or transport (fish) hosts. Therefore, instead of being exclusively a water-borne anthroponosis, dracunculiasis would also be a food-borne zoonosis. The existence of a large number of infected dogs, mainly in Chad, and the low number of infected humans, have given ris…

Current and future HCV therapy: do we still need other anti-HCV drugs?

2014

Eradication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, at least in compensated patients, can help improve the outcomes of liver disease such as cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver transplantation, as well as perhaps extra-hepatic complications such as diabetes and cardiovascular risk. In the past few years, the landscape of antiviral therapy has evolved at a breathtaking pace from pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) (PEG-IFN/RBV) to IFN-based strategies combining direct acting antivirals (DDAs) with PEG-IFN/RBV and finally IFN-free combinations of DAAs. In particular with these most recent developments, treatment regimens have become shorter, safer and even more e…