GLOBAL HEALTH BRIEF Thursday, March 19, 2020

For decades, public health officials have directed the containment of emerging pandemics – perhaps most notably – the worldwide eradication of smallpox starting in the early to mid-1960s. Since then, surveillance systems have increased in number and sophistication with advances in data collection, analysis, and communication. From influenza to smallpox, the establishment of systematic reporting systems and prompt action based on results have enabled public health officials to lead the charge in containing emerging pandemics.

Though COVID-19 so far appears to be largely sparing children, researchers are cautioning that it is critical to understand how the virus affects kids to model the pandemic accurately, limit the disease’s spread and ensure the youngest patients get the care they need.

Laura van Holstein, a PhD student in Biological Anthropology at St. John’s College, University of Cambridge, has proved one of Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution for the first time – nearly 140 years after his death. Van Holstein discovered mammal subspecies play a more important role in evolution than previously thought.

Researchers have invented a portable surveillance device powered by machine learning – called FluSense – which can detect coughing and crowd size in real time, then analyze the data to directly monitor flu-like illnesses and influenza trends.

A comprehensive review of U.S. social policies evaluated for their health outcomes found suggestive evidence that early life, income, and health insurance interventions have the potential to improve health. Scientists have long known that “social” risk factors, like poverty, are correlated with health. However, until this study, there was little research carried out to understand whether it was actually possible to improve population health by addressing these risk factors with social policies. The findings are published in The Milbank Quarterly, a multidisciplinary journal of population health and health policy published by the Milbank Memorial Fund.

We all have stress in our lives–whether it’s due to financial woes, work pressures, relationship issues, illness or even natural disasters or health crises like the emerging coronavirus. For some people who survive a heart attack, it seems mental stress–as opposed to physical stress–may be a stronger predictor of a repeat heart attack or dying from heart disease.

In an analysis of 2019 mass shootings and hospital locations, researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) found that the closest hospital to more than 70% of mass shootings was a non-trauma center, where sudden, high casualty loads were more likely to overwhelm capacity and trauma-specific care options may have been limited. They also found that in more than half of mass shooting events, the nearest pediatric trauma center was more than 10 miles away.

Experiencing the symptoms of opioid withdrawal increases the odds that a person who injects drugs will share needles or have a non-fatal overdose, according to new USC study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Mexican women born and educated in Mexico who now live in Texas breastfeed longer than those born and educated in the United States. That’s the finding from new research from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project (TxPEP) at The University of Texas at Austin, which points to a “breastfeeding gap” among some Mexican-origin women living in Texas.