To determine dynamic changes in clinical characteristics by examining an outbreak of adenovirus infection that occurred from December 20, 2012, to February 25, 2013, in Tianjin, China.

Active surveillance for febrile respiratory illnesses was conducted, and medical records of patients were collected. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and sequencing were used for pathogen identification and viral genome study, respectively. Student’s t-test was used to compare the mean values of normally distributed continuous variables. Mann-Whitney U or Kruskal-Wallis tests were used if continuous variables were not normally distributed. Pearson’s chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test was used to compare categorical variables.

The outbreak was sourced from the index case diagnosed as the common cold on December 20, 2012; a total of 856 cases were reported in the following 66 days. The pathogen was identified as human adenovirus (HAdV) 55. The symptoms manifested differently in severe and mild cases. Routine blood examinations, liver function indexes, and heart function indexes showed different dynamic patterns over time in hospitalized patients.

Clinical characteristics and laboratory examinations may reveal unique patterns over the course of HAdV-55 infection. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:464–469)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficiency of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) in managing their nonmonetary resources involved in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response.

For this purpose, the data envelopment analysis approach was used to measure the efficiency, considering the number of personnel and vehicles and screened passengers as the input and output parameters, respectively. It was examined the efficiency of 10 IRCS’s branches given 17 d of screening operation. For the analysis, the DEA SolverPro software 15a version was used.

The results show that only 1 branch had been fully efficient in using the resources, while 5 branches showed less than 50% efficiency. This study reveals that it is unnecessary to use a fixed number of volunteers at different stations with different passenger numbers.

Using resources without efficient planning can lead to direct costs such as food, transportation, and maintenance, as well as indirect costs such as burnout, fatigue, and stress when responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This analysis should support IRCS’s managers to move their valuable resources from inefficient to efficient centers to increase the screening rate and reduce the fatigue of aid workers for the next pandemic rounds.

School textbooks have a significant role in transferring knowledge to the students and changing their behavior. This work aims to analyze school textbooks to find the representation of natural hazards in Iran, which is vital for supporting children in disaster situations.

In this study, a qualitative content analysis was used. Data were analyzed qualitatively by using MAXQDA 2018 software. For the 2019–2020 school year, 300 Iranian school textbooks in Persian language were collected.

Findings of this work show that students receive information about disaster risk reduction (DRR) education through the primary and secondary grade levels in all 12 grades. The educational content covers various types of natural hazards, including geophysical, hydrological, climatological, meteorological, and biological disasters. In addition, the textbooks contain discussions about local hazards, causes and effects of disasters, and the disaster management cycle.

The coverage of DRR and the relevant contents in school textbooks reveals that the discourse of natural hazards is important for Iranian authorities, especially in the education system. This study helps decision-makers and practitioners design more effective interventions to prepare children for disasters.

Hospitals are expected to operate at a high-performance level even under exceptional conditions of peak demand and resource disruptions. This understanding is not mature yet, and there are wide areas of possible improvement. In particular, the fast mobilization and reconfiguration of resources frequently result into the severe disruption of elective activities, worsening the quality of care. More resilient resource allocation strategies, ie, which adapt to the dynamics of the prevailing circumstance, are needed to maximize the effectiveness of health-care delivery. In this study, a simulation approach was adopted to assess and compare different hospital’s adaptive resource allocation strategies in responding to a mass casualty incident (MCI).

A specific set of performance metrics was developed to take into consideration multiple objectives and priorities and holistically assess the effectiveness of health-care delivery when coping with an MCI event. Discrete event simulation (DES) and system dynamics (SD) were used to model the key hospital processes and the MCI plan.

In the daytime scenario, during the recovery phase of the emergency, a gradual disengagement of resources from the emergency department (ED) to restart ordinary activities in operating rooms and wards, returned the best performance. In the night scenario, the absorption capacity of the ED was evaluated by identifying the current bottleneck and assessment of the benefit of different resource mobilization strategies.

The present study offers a robust approach, effective strategies, and new insights to design more resilient plans to cope with MCIs. Future research is needed to widen the scope of the analysis and take into consideration additional resilience capacities, such as operational coordination mechanisms, among multiple hospitals in the same geographic area.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has received various distinct perspectives and responses at the local as well as global levels. The current study pays attention to local perspectives, which have appeared in the Sindh Province of Pakistan.

Given the constraints of the pandemic, and using convenience sampling, we conducted 10 online group discussions, 7 one-on-one interviews, and 30 cellphone discussions from a small town of Sindh Province. We made every effort to make our sampling inclusive in terms of decisive sociocultural factors: gender, religion, level of formal education, and occupation/job. We obtained data from women, men, Muslims and non-Muslims, the formally educated and noneducated, government employees, and daily wage laborers. Moreover, to perform content analysis, we used social media such as WhatsApp and Facebook.

We have found that some people consider COVID-19 a “political” game, “supernatural test” or “Western plot”. The given perceptions then guide further actions: either ignore or adopt the preventive measures or take supernatural preventive measures. Considering it as a test of God, Muslims perform prayers, while the Bāgrrī community who practice Hinduism are taking cow urine to deal with the virus. This study brings these perspectives to the center stage; yet, the results cannot be generalized across the country, or within the province. Moreover, the study situates these perspectives within the global and socio-cultural, economic, and political contexts and invites more in-depth studies to inquire why such perspectives emerge.

We discuss different narratives concerning COVID-19 in a small town of Sindh Province. We maintain that documenting these various perspectives and analyzing their impacts on the preparedness programs is essential, yet understanding the causes behind the stated standpoints is equally essential, if not more so.

This study investigates burnout and sources of stress related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic among a group of health care risk managers/patient safety practitioners.

An online survey was used, including the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) and 1 open-ended question: Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, what work or non-work-related issues have been causing you the most stress?

A total of 31 participants completed the OLBI; 27 answered the open-ended question. Over 70% of participants qualified as burned out. A thematic analysis was used to analyze stressors. Key themes included impacts of social distancing, changing duties and workload, real and potential impacts of the virus (eg, fear of infection for self or others), and financial concerns (personal and organizational). Less common themes included untrustworthy and constantly changing guidance, feeling abused by persons in power, and positive comments about the experience of working during the pandemic.

Burnout and pandemic-related stress may be very common in the health care risk management and patient safety workforce. Additional research is required to more robustly estimate the prevalence of burnout in this population. Meanwhile, the sources of stress identified here may aid health care organizations in taking immediate action to protect this vital workforce.

Health-care workers (HCWs) are vulnerable to the risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, and the safety of HCWs is important in situations where a prolonged COVID-19 is expected.

HCWs were recently put in great danger around the globe; as of December 21, there were 306 confirmed cases in HCWs in South Korea, representing 0.60% of the total 50,591 confirmed cases nationally.

After experiencing Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), South Korea has put a range of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures with long-term perspectives in place, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), HCW’s infection status tracing, visitor control, and a variety of supports from both national and local public health authorities.

This article introduces the infection status of HCWs and IPC measures currently taken in South Korea, emphasizing the collaborative and long-term IPC efforts for ensuring the safety of HCWs.

The key to resilience after disasters is the provision of coordinated care and resource distribution to the affected community. Past research indicates that the general public lacks an understanding regarding agencies’ roles and responsibilities during disaster response.

This study’s purpose was to explore the general public’s beliefs regarding agencies or organizations’ responsibilities related to resource management during disasters. In addition, the public’s attitudes towards the management and use of community disaster assistance centers were explored.

Qualitative interviews were conducted with members of the general public. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Content analysis was used to analyze the data and identify themes that describe the public’s expectations of disaster response agencies and the use of community disaster assistance centers.

A total of 28 interviews were conducted. Half of the participants (n=14) were black, 57% (n=16) were female, and the mean age was 49 years. The general public has developed trust and distrust toward response organizations and governmental agencies based on past experiences during disasters. The public wishes to have local agencies to help lead disaster response, but expects a collaboration between all response organizations, including the government. The managing agency overseeing community disaster assistance centers was not perceived as important, but the proximity of these centers to community members was considered critical.

The general public prefers that local agencies and leaders manage disaster response, and they expect collaboration among response agencies. Community assistance centers need to be located close to those in need, and be managed by agencies trusted by the general public. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:446–449)

An excess of deaths from cardiac causes are reported after many natural disasters. Despite the fact that floods are the most common and most destructive natural disaster worldwide, little is known about their effect on human health. We analyzed the influence of the greatest floods in the Czech Republic on cardiac mortality in the affected area.

This was a retrospective case-control study. We analyzed persons whose autopsies proved they had died of cardiac causes during the month of the flood, 2 months before the flood, 1 month after the flood, and during the same period in the 3 previous years.

A total of 207 of 985 autopsy reports met the criteria for inclusion in the study. There were no significant differences in the proportions of men and women (P=0.819) or in age (P=0.577). During the month of the flood, an increase in cardiac mortality was observed; however, the increase was not statistically significant (P=0.088).

According to our findings, the 1997 Central European flood did not significantly affect cardiac mortality. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;8:492-496)

With the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the workload of the Iran’s health-care system along with the Pre-hospital Emergency Service (PHES) increased significantly so that Iranian fledgling emergency system had never experienced such a crisis. With regard to the importance of the function of PHES as the front-line staff of Iran’s health system and its role in controlling the recent epidemic crisis, this study was conducted to identify the challenges of PHES function in the face of COVID-19 pandemic.

The study was conducted with qualitative approach through content analysis in 2021. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. Sampling was purposive and continued until data saturation. After 24 interviews, the data were saturated. The extracted codes were thoroughly prepared as a data pool. After encoding all available data, the related codes were categorized into a single theme. After extracting the themes, a network of themes, related to the research topic, was drawn, and then, the relationship between the themes was analyzed.

Data analysis undertaken for the qualitative study resulted in the identification of 4 main themes included: challenges related to facilities and equipment, living with uncertainty, professional and organizational capabilities, and burnout.

PHES personnel have an important and key role in providing care to patients during COVID-19 epidemic period. Individual and systemic challenges were among the most important issues in the experiences of these personnel. These challenges require organizational planning and special attention of health policy-makers to maintain the staff’s physical and mental health during the pandemic and the possible crises ahead.

Disaster-related research funding in the United States has not been described. This study characterizes Federal funding for disaster-related research for 5 professional disciplines: medicine, public health, social science, engineering, emergency management.

An online key word search was performed using the website, www.USAspending.gov, to identify federal awards, grants, and contracts during 2011–2016. A panel of experts then reviewed each entry for inclusion.

The search identified 9145 entries, of which 262 (3%) met inclusion criteria. Over 6 years, the Federal Government awarded US $69 325 130 for all disaster-related research. Total funding levels quadrupled in the first 3 years and then halved in the last 3 years. Half of the funding was for engineering, 3 times higher than social sciences and emergency management and 5 times higher than public health and medicine. Ten (11%) institutions received 52% of all funding. The search returned entries for only 12 of the 35 pre-identified disaster-related capabilities; 6 of 12 capabilities appear to have received no funding for at least 2 years.

US federal funding for disaster-related research is limited and highly variable during 2011–2016. There are no clear reasons for apportionment. There appears to be an absence of prioritization. There does not appear to be a strategy for alignment of research with national disaster policies.

This retrospective observational study aimed to look into the social demographic change of the occupants of a long-term care (LTC) facility that was constructed in 2015 as a restoration support after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident.

The social demographic information during 2015–2021 of occupants in the Kawauchi Special Nursing Home was analyzed.

A total of 172 participants were included in the analysis. The number (proportion) of evacuees was 37 (69.8%) in 2015, then gradually decreased to 7 (31.8%) in 2018, yet increased to 21 (58.3%) in 2019. There were 121 occupants (70.4%) who were from Kawauchi Village and other municipalities of the former evacuation area.

The Kawauchi Special Nursing Home initially received people who hoped to return to the former evacuation zone; however, its role changed to receive people who became in need of LTC after returning to Kawauchi Village. The construction of LTC facilities in the former evacuation area may help enhance the local LTC service where returnees are rapidly aging.