Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention

The aim is to address the limitations of clinical surveillance-specifically, its high cost and underreporting of asymptomatic infections and untreated individuals-by implementing municipal wastewater surveillance. This study characterizes the epidemiological dynamics of Norovirus (NoV) and Rotavirus A (RVA) in Yantai City and evaluates the effectiveness of Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE) for early outbreak warning. From 2023 to 2024, weekly wastewater samples (1-2 samples per site) were collected from 10 municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across five urban districts and three counties in Yantai City. Following concentration via polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation, viral nucleic acids of NoV GI/GII and RVA were examined using multiplex reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), with quantification based on standard curves. Cross-correlation analysis was applied to assess time-lag relationships between viral concentrations in wastewater and clinical case peaks, and to evaluate the statistical significance (α = 0.05) of the early warning time window. Wastewater surveillance (no. samples: 1,391) identified NoV GII as the dominant virus with an overall detection rate of 85.84%. However, from 2023 to 2024, its annual detection rate declined significantly from 92.27% to 73.81% (P < 0.001). During the same period, NoV GI also declined annually from 83.55% to 69.07% (P < 0.001), whereas RVA detection increased substantially by 145.7% annually, rising from 26.6% to 65.36% (P < 0.001). NoV peaked in winter-spring seasons (GI: 76.61% in winter, 89.20% in spring; GII: 87.13% in winter, 91.31% in spring), whereas RVA peaked in spring (42.72%) and summer (55.79%). Seasonal fluctuation intensity followed this order: RVA (χ2 = 69.07) > NoV GI (χ2 = 49.28) > NoV GII (χ2 = 21.44). Cross-correlation analysis indicated that NoV GII concentration in wastewater peaked 1 month ahead of clinical cases, showing significant positive correlations with both reported cases (r = 0.60, P = 0.002) and clinical positivity rates (r = 0.53, P = 0.009) at a one-month lag. A one-month lag for NoV GI and a two-month lag for RVA relative to clinical cases were observed but were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Systematic wastewater surveillance effectively captured population-level epidemiological dynamics of NoV and RVA. Notably, NoV GII provided a significant one-month early warning signal (P < 0.01), establishing its value as a leading indicator for diarrheal virus prevention and control in Yantai City.

Exploring the quality of life and factors affecting hospitalized pregnant and postpartum women with SARS-CoV-2 infection and thus providing a basis for improving the quality of health services. Hospitalized pregnant and postpartum women with SARS-CoV-2 infection in Suzhou City between October 2022 and December 2024 were taken as the study subjects, and questionnaires were administered to 512 patients using self-designed questionnaires and the EQ-5D scale. Univariate chi-square test, multivariate Logistic regression, and quantile regression analysis methods were used to analyze the quality of life and its influencing factors in hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of the five dimensions related to quality of life, the highest percentage of problems occurred with pain/discomfort (15.1%), followed by mobility impact (10.4%); median VAS score was 89. The results of multifactorial analysis showed that seven factors, including different stages of pregnancy, pre-pregnancy BMI, disease severity, and different stages of epidemic development, influenced the physical dimension-related EQ-5D; family income and disease severity had an effect on the psychological dimension-related EQ-5D. The education level and the presence of severe infection were identified as influencing factors for the 25th percentile of VAS scores, and being in the early stage of the epidemic and the presence of severe infection were influencing factors for the median VAS score. During the hospitalization of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, indicators of physical and psychological dimensions related to quality of life were affected to some extent, and as the epidemic progressed, the proportion of re-infected persons increased, and the impact on VAS scores decreased. Special attention should be paid to the fact that during the period of hospitalization, the indicators of psychological dimensions are influenced by the economic level of the family, in addition to the severity of the disease.

Methanol (MeOH) is a volatile and flammable liquid commonly used in the construction, automotive, and pharmaceutical industries. It has systemic and ocular toxicity, and most patients with methanol poisoning have severe metabolic acidosis. Occupational inhalation can cause toxic optic neuropathy and bilateral optic atrophy. In this study, we investigated whether the 5'-AMP-activated protein kinase/peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha/sirtuin-3 (AMPK/PGC-1α/SIRT3) pathway is involved in the methanol-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. A series of behavioral, histological, and pathological assessments was performed. Methanol exposure slowed down the weight growth rate of rats and prolonged escape latencies. In addition, methanol exposure decreased the number of upright times and horizontal movements, damaged cortical neurons, and caused oxidative stress injury. These alterations coincided with neurobehavioral impairments, indicating that methanol exposure may cause oxidative damage and mitochondrial dysfunction by down-regulating the expression levels of the AMPK/PGC-1α/SIRT3 pathway proteins. Treatment with ZLN005, a PGC-1α activator, partially alleviated methanol-induced neurobehavioral deficits and mitochondrial dysfunction, likely via the modulation of the AMPK/PGC-1α/SIRT3 pathway, which may be a novel target for therapeutics aimed to alleviate the effects of environmental neurotoxicants.

BackgroundHealthcare workers (HCWs) are at an increased risk of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and active TB due to their occupational exposure to tuberculosis (TB). There are limited studies to assess the baseline prevalence of LTBI among HCWs in coastal eastern China. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of LTBI among HCWs.MethodsA cross-sectional study with stratified cluster sampling method was conducted. All HCWs with TB exposure from the selected healthcare institutions were recruited to complete a standardized questionnaire and to undergo testing by the creation tuberculin skin test (C-TST). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was employed to identify determinants associated with LTBI.ResultsA total of 342 HCWs were included in the analysis. The prevalence of LTBI was found to be 13.16% (95% CI: 9.76–17.21%). The results of multivariate regression analysis showed that healthcare institutions level (OR = 4.131, 95% CI:1.687–10.118, p = 0.002); physician (OR = 3.132, 95% CI:1.132–8.662, p = 0.028), laboratory technician (OR = 5.545, 95% CI:1.385–22.200, p = 0.016); working duration 10–14 years (OR = 5.721, 95% CI: 1.435–22.809, p = 0.013), 15–19 years (OR = 4.305, 95% CI: 1.028–18.032, p = 0.046) and 20 years above (OR = 4.047, 95% CI: 1.079–15.171, p = 0.038); household contact with TB (OR = 4.488, 95% CI: 1.051–19.166, p = 0.043) were significantly associated with a higher prevalence of LTBI.ConclusionsThe LTBI prevalence among HCWs in Yantai is relatively low. TB screening should be included in the annual health check-ups for HCWs, especially for high-risk groups such as frontline HCWs, long-serving workers, and those with household contact with TB, to reduce the risk of TB infection. These findings highlight the need to enhance infection control measures and active surveillance for at-risk HCWs, even in low TB incidence settings. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies to understand LTBI dynamics and the effectiveness of interventions in low-incidence settings.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-025-24926-z.