World Health Organization

About: World Health Organization is a government organization based out in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Public health. The organization has 13330 authors who have published 22232 publications receiving 1322023 citations. The organization is also known as: World Health Organisation & WHO.

A Multinational Comparison of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Epidemiology in the WHO MONICA Stroke Study

Abstract: Background and Purpose —By official, mostly unvalidated statistics, mortality from subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) show large variations between countries. Using uniform criteria for case ascertainment and diagnosis, a multinational comparison of attack rates and case fatality rates of SAH has been performed within the framework of the WHO MONICA Project. Methods —In 25- to 64-year-old men and women, a total of 3368 SAH events were recorded during 35.9 million person-years of observation in 11 populations in Europe and China. Strict MONICA criteria were used for case ascertainment and diagnosis of stroke subtype. Case fatality was based on follow-up at 28 days after onset. Results —Age-adjusted average annual SAH attack rates varied 10-fold among the 11 populations studied, from 2.0 (95% CI 1.6 to 2.4) per 100 000 population per year in China-Beijing to 22.5 (95% CI 20.9 to 24.1) per 100 000 population per year in Finland. No consistent pattern was observed in the sex ratio of attack rates in the different populations. The overall 28-day case fatality rate was 42%, with 2-fold differences in age-adjusted rates between populations but little difference between men and women. Case fatality rates were consistently higher in Eastern than in Western Europe. Conclusions —Using a uniform methodology, the WHO MONICA Project has shown very large variations in attack rates of SAH across 11 populations in Europe and China. The generally accepted view that women have a higher risk of SAH than men does not apply to all populations. Marked differences in outcome of SAH add to the wide gap in the burden of stroke between East and West Europe.

Narrow excision (1-cm margin) : a safe procedure for thin cutaneous melanoma

Abstract: We analyzed the results at 8 years of an international, randomized, prospective study carried out by the World Health Organization Melanoma Programme aimed at evaluating the efficacy of 1-cm-margin excision of primary melanomas not thicker than 2 mm. Data for 612 patients were assessable; 305 were randomized to receive 1-cm-margin excision and 307 to receive wide excision (margins of greater than or equal to 3 cm). The major prognostic criteria were similar in the two groups. Breslow thickness was 0.99 mm in the narrow excision group and 1.02 mm in the wide excision group. Disease-free and overall survival rates (mean follow-up period, 90 months) were similar in the two groups. Only four patients had a local recurrence as a first relapse. All underwent narrow excision, and each had primary melanomas thicker than 1 mm.

Zika: the origin and spread of a mosquito-borne virus.

Abstract: Introduction Zika, a flavivirus transmitted mainly by mosquitos in the genus Aedes, was discovered in 1947 in Uganda. (1) From the 1960s to 1980s, human infections were found across Africa and Asia, typically accompanied by mild illness. The first large outbreak of disease caused by Zika infection was reported from the island of Yap (Federated States of Micronesia) in 2007, as the virus moved from south-east Asia across the Pacific. During an outbreak in French Polynesia in 2013-2014, Guillain-Barre syndrome was linked to Zika infection and cases of microcephaly in newborn children were also retrospectively linked to this outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) received the first reports of locally-transmitted infection from Brazil in May 2015. In July 2015, health ministry officials from Brazil reported an association between Zika virus infection and Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults. In October 2015, WHO received reports from Brazil of microcephaly in babies whose mothers had been exposed to Zika during pregnancy. At this time, there was no proof of a causal link between Zika infection and these neurological complications. In February 2016, as infection moved rapidly through the range occupied by Aedes mosquitos in the Americas, WHO declared that Zika infection associated with microcephaly and other neurological disorders constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). By the start of February 2016, local transmission of Zika infection had been reported from more than 20 countries and territories in the Americas and an outbreak numbering thousands of cases was under way in Cabo Verde in western Africa. Beyond the range of its mosquito vectors, Zika virus infections are expected to be carried worldwide by people as they travel and be transmitted by travellers to sexual partners who have not been to places where the virus is endemic. Methods To illustrate the spread of Zika virus and associated neurological complications, we did a literature search in PubMed using "Zika" and "ZIKV" as the search terms and cross-checked our findings for completeness against other published reviews. (2, 3) In addition, we drew on formal notifications to WHO under the International Health Regulations (IHR), (4) which are archived in the WHO Event Information Site (EIS). EIS contains information about public health events of potential international concern notified to WHO as required by the IHR. EIS notifications sometimes contain confidential patient information and therefore are not publicly available. Other details of specific events can be provided by the authors on request. Results The first reported case of Zika virus dates to 1947 when the virus was isolated in samples taken from a captive sentinel rhesus monkey by scientists conducting routine surveillance for yellow fever in the Zika forest of Uganda. (1) The virus was recovered from Aedes (Stegomyia) africanus, caught on a tree platform in the forest. (1) Laboratory infection experiments showed the virus to be neurotropic in mice. (5) The timeline presented in this paper includes numerous serological surveys that purportedly detected antibodies to Zika virus in the 1950s and 1960s in Africa and Asia. Because serological (antibody detection) tests for Zika cross-react with antibodies stimulated by other viral infections, the presence of Zika virus is ideally confirmed by the detection of viral nucleic acids by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing or by virus isolation. A chronological map of the presence of Zika in those countries for which there is evidence of autochthonous transmission by mosquitos is presented in Fig. 1. The map excludes the many countries from which imported Zika infections have been reported. The country-by-country spread of Zika virus infections, from the earliest published report in 1947 to a World Health Organization, avenue Appia 20, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. January 2014 is summarized in Table 1. …

First cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the WHO European Region, 24 January to 21 February 2020

Abstract: We are grateful for the essential work of a large number of public health experts, clinical microbiologists, practitioners and clinicians who have been involved in the investigations at national and regional level including all the professionals of the Canarian Health Service and the Balearic Islands Health Service. We acknowledge the work of ECDC data manager, particularly Zsolt Bartha, and country cooperation teams in rapidly establishing the online reporting system in TESSy by 26 January 2020. We thank also the efforts of Catalin Albu, Adrian Prodan, Skaidra Kurapkiene, Per Rolfhamre and Anca Dragnea. ECDC also thanks the Epidemic Intelligence team that provides vital and timely data on global cases of COVID-19. WHO thanks Ka Yeung (Calvin) Cheng, Silviu Ciobanu, Gudrun Freidl, Lauren MacDonald, and Miriam Sneiderman for assistance with data management.