著者
多田 功
出版者
日本熱帯医学会
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.36, no.3SUPPLEMENT, pp.S49-S67, 2008 (Released:2008-11-10)
参考文献数
103
被引用文献数
4 5

For a long period Japan was a country with a variety of parasites linked to the geo-climatic features of the country and agricultural modes. However national endeavors to promote parasite controls resulted in the successful elimination of those parasites by around 1970. In this short article, I briefly overview the control programs of soil-transmitted parasites, lymphatic filaria, Schistosoma japonicum and malaria, and cite some of the characteristic features and remarkable facts revealed in the course of individual control programs.
著者
HIROSHI OHARA
出版者
Japanese Society of Tropical Medicine
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.32, no.3, pp.235-240, 2004 (Released:2004-11-12)
参考文献数
14
被引用文献数
9 11

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has rapidly spread and caused epidemics in many countries. During these epidemics, the Japanese government contributed to SARS control by dispatching medical teams. In the present article, the author reviews and discusses the process of control of the SARS outbreak based on experiences in activities to support SARS control in Vietnam and China.Vietnam succeeded in the effective control of SARS for the first time in the world. This was accomplished by complete isolation of patients and implementation of nosocomial infection control from an early stage of epidemic, etc. In China, due to inadequate response in the early stage, nosocomial infection occurred frequently and the disease quickly spread. However, later, effective actions were taken under the strong direction of the government, and the disease was finally put under control. The Japan Medical Team for Disaster Relief dispatched by the government of Japan to Hanoi, Vietnam and Beijing, China offered cooperative activities for the prevention of nosocomial infection and respiratory management. In addition, the Medical Aid Team sent to Guangdong Province in China provided guidance to the local Japanese residents to prevent the infection of SARS and to alleviate anxiety about the disease. In the control of SARS, it is essential to take adequate actions from an early stage in the development of the disease. For this purpose, rather than starting measures for the control of nosocomial infection after the eruption of the disease, it is important to train medical staff on a routine basis, to establish a nosocomial infection control system, and to consolidate basic preventive practices.
著者
山下 俊一
出版者
日本熱帯医学会
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.42, no.2SUPPLEMENT, pp.S93-S107, 2014 (Released:2014-09-26)
被引用文献数
7

The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, besides further studying the appropriateness of the initial response and post-countermeasures against the severe Fukushima nuclear accident, has now increased the importance of the epidemiological study in comprehensive health risk management and radiation protection; lessons learnt from the Chernobyl accident should be also implemented. Therefore, since May 2011, Fukushima Prefecture has started the “Fukushima Health Management Survey Project” for the purpose of long-term health care administration and early diagnosis/treatment for the prefectural residents. Basic survey is under investigation on a retrospective estimation of external exposure of the first four months. As one of the four detailed surveys, the thyroid ultrasound examination has clarified the increased detection rate of childhood thyroid cancers as a screening effect in the past three years and so thyroid cancer occurrence by Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, especially due to radioactive iodine will be discussed despite of difficult challenge of accurate estimation of low dose and low-dose rate radiation exposures. Through the on-site valuable experience and a difficult challenge for recovery, we should learn the lessons from this severe and large-scale nuclear accident, especially how to countermeasure against public health emergency at the standpoint of health risk and also social risk management.
著者
山下 俊 一
出版者
日本熱帯医学会
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
pp.2014-S14, (Released:2014-05-24)
被引用文献数
7

The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, besides further studying the appropriateness of the initial response and post-countermeasures against the severe Fukushima nuclear accident, has now increased the importance of the epidemiological study in comprehensive health risk management and radiation protection; lessons learnt from the Chernobyl accident should be also implemented. Therefore, since May 2011, Fukushima Prefecture has started the “Fukushima Health Management Survey Project” for the purpose of long-term health care administration and early diagnosis/treatment for the prefectural residents. Basic survey is under investigation on a retrospective estimation of external exposure of the first four months. As one of the four detailed surveys, the thyroid ultrasound examination has clarified the increased detection rate of childhood thyroid cancers as a screening effect in the past three years and so thyroid cancer occurrence by Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, especially due to radioactive iodine will be discussed despite of difficult challenge of accurate estimation of low dose and low-dose rate radiation exposures. Through the on-site valuable experience and a difficult challenge for recovery, we should learn the lessons from this severe and large-scale nuclear accident, especially how to countermeasure against public health emergency at the standpoint of health risk and also social risk management.
著者
Endurance A. Ophori Musa Y. Tula Azuka V. Azih Rachel Okojie Precious E. Ikpo
出版者
日本熱帯医学会
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
pp.2013-13, (Released:2014-04-23)
被引用文献数
2 81

Immunization is aimed at the prevention of infectious diseases. In Nigeria, the National Programme on Immunization (NPI) suffers recurrent setbacks due to many factors including ethnicity and religious beliefs. Nigeria is made up of 36 states with its federal capital in Abuja. The country is divided into six geo-political zones; north central, north west, north east, south east, south west and south south. The population is unevenly distributed across the country. The average population density in 2006 was estimated at 150 people per square kilometres with Lagos, Anambra, Imo, Abia, and Akwa Ibom being the most densely populated states. Most of the densely populated states are found in the south east. Kano with an average density of 442 persons per square kilometre, is the most densely populated state in the northern part of the country. This study presents a review on the current immunization programme and the many challenges affecting its success in the eradication of childhood diseases in Nigeria.
著者
Nguyen Phuoc Long Nguyen Tien Huy Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang Nguyen Thien Luan Nguyen Hoang Anh Tran Diem Nghi Mai Van Hieu Kenji Hirayama Juntra Karbwang
出版者
日本熱帯医学会
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.42, no.3, pp.121-126, 2014 (Released:2014-09-10)
参考文献数
37
被引用文献数
1 5

BACKGROUND: Ethics is one of the main pillars in the development of science. We performed a JoinPoint regression analysis to analyze the trends of ethical issue research over the past half century. The question is whether ethical issues are neglected despite their importance in modern research.METHOD: PubMed electronic library was used to retrieve publications of all fields and ethical issues. JoinPoint regression analysis was used to identify the significant time trends of publications of all fields and ethical issues, as well as the proportion of publications on ethical issues to all fields over the past half century. Annual percent changes (APC) were computed with their 95% confidence intervals, and a p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.RESULTS: We found that publications of ethical issues increased during the period of 1965–1996 but slightly fell in recent years (from 1996 to 2013). When comparing the absolute number of ethics related articles (APEI) to all publications of all fields (APAF) on PubMed, the results showed that the proportion of APEI to APAF statistically increased during the periods of 1965–1974, 1974–1986, and 1986–1993, with APCs of 11.0, 2.1, and 8.8, respectively. However, the trend has gradually dropped since 1993 and shown a marked decrease from 2002 to 2013 with an annual percent change of –7.4%.CONCLUSIONS: Scientific productivity in ethical issues research on over the past half century rapidly increased during the first 30-year period but has recently been in decline. Since ethics is an important aspect of scientific research, we suggest that greater attention is needed in order to emphasize the role of ethics in modern research.
著者
Tomohiko Takasaki
出版者
日本熱帯医学会
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.39, no.4SUPPLEMENT, pp.S13-S15, 2011 (Released:2012-04-01)
参考文献数
10
被引用文献数
16 29

Several dengue outbreaks occurred in Japan from 1942 to 1945. Dengue fever emerged in Nagasaki in August 1942 and soon spread to other cities such as Sasebo, Hiroshima, Kobe and Osaka, recurring every summer until 1945 and constituting the greatest outbreak in the temperate zone. Domestic outbreaks have not been reported in Japan since then. However, the number of imported dengue cases has increased year by year: 868 imported cases were reported in Japan between 1999 and 2010 according to the Infectious Diseases Control Law. Moreover, 406 imported cases were confirmed to be dengue virus infection among 768 dengue suspected cases received at NIID from 2003 to 2010. A total of 142 cases (35.6%), 103 cases (25.8%) and 62 cases (15.5%) were noted in the 20–29, 30–39 and 40–49 age groups, respectively. Infecting dengue virus serotypes were determined for 280 of the 406 cases. The number of cases infected with each of the 4 serotypes was 98 (35%) with type 1, 78 (28%) with type 3, 72 (26%) with type 2, and 32 (11%) with type 4. Sixty percent of dengue cases were imported from July to October, the summer vacation season in Japan.
著者
Hiroyuki Matsuoka Gen-ichiro Sano Ryuta Hattori Hiroyuki Tomita Daisuke S. Yamamoto Makoto Hirai
出版者
Japanese Society of Tropical Medicine
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.40, no.2, pp.47-53, 2012 (Released:2012-10-05)
参考文献数
20
被引用文献数
1 4

It has been proposed that transgenic mosquitoes can be used as a “flying syringe” for infectious disease control. We succeeded in generating a transgenic (TG) mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, excreting and discharging DsRed in saliva. DsRed was deposited on the membrane where the TG mosquito probed with its proboscis. Repeated feeding by the TG mosquitoes induced anti-DeRed as well as anti-SG antibodies in mice. This indicates that the TG mosquitoes can immunize the animal. Moreover, in this report, we employed a pre-immunization method before exposing mice to the TG mosquitoes. We injected DsRed to mice to prepare memory B cells and exposed the mice to bites by the TG mosquitoes excreting DsRed. The mice produced a higher titer of antibody to DsRed, suggesting that the bites from TG mosquitoes act as a booster and that primary immunization with a vaccine protein and exposure to TG mosquitoes excreting the vaccine protein in the saliva produces a synergistic effect.
著者
大城 直雅 松尾 敏明 佐久川 さつき 與儀 健太郎 松田 聖子 安元 健 稲福 恭雄
出版者
Japanese Society of Tropical Medicine
雑誌
Tropical medicine and health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.39, no.2, pp.53-57, 2011-06-01
被引用文献数
16

In this paper we report two incidents of ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) that occurred in 2008 on Kakeroma Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. A family consisting of father (42 y.o.), mother (39 y.o.), daughter (11 y.o.) and son (6 y.o.), as well as a friend of the family (male, 78 y.o.) consumed sliced flesh (sashimi) and developed typical symptoms of CPF 4-5 h later: diarrhea, vomiting, and paresthesia of the extremities. Additionally, the two male adults (42 and 78 y.o.) developed mild hypotention (84/48 and 94/40 mmHg, respectively) and bradycardia (36 and 50 bpm, respectively) and were rushed to the ER of the nearest hospital, located on an adjacent island. The implicated fish were caught together off the west coast of the island and were identified as <i>Variola louti</i> and <i>Lutjanus monostigma</i> based on analysis of 16S rRNA gene coded on mtDNA. Remnants of the implicated fish and other fish caught on the same occasion were examined by the official mouse bioassay method (MBA), which defines the minimum amount of CFP toxin needed to kill a male mouse of ddY strain of 20 g body weight within 24 h as one mouse unit (MU). A significantly high toxicity was detected in the <i>V. louti</i> (0.2 MU/g) eaten by the family and the <i>L. monostigma</i> (0.8 MU/g) eaten by the elderly man. Other specimens of <i>Lethrinus nebulosus</i>, <i>Variola albimarginata</i>, <i>Lutjanus gibbus</i> (2 specimens), <i>Aphareus rutilans</i>, and <i>Sphyraena forsteri</i> (2 specimens) were found to be nontoxic (< 0.025 MU/g).<br> The medical records regarding island inhabitants (ca. 1,500) kept at Kakeroma Tokushukai Clinic, the only medical facility on the Island, and also at Setouchi Tokushukai Hospital, a nearest hospital on an adjacent island (Amami) revealed 6 CFP outbreaks involving 13 cases between 2005 and 2008. The estimated frequency of CFP was 10.0 incidents/10,000 persons/year and the morbidity rate was 21.7 cases/10,000 persons/year. The symptoms and signs observed in the patients and the implicated fish species, <i>L. monostigma</i> and<i> V. louti</i>, were typical of CFP in this region.
著者
HIROSHI NISHIURA MASAYUKI KAKEHASHI
出版者
Japanese Society of Tropical Medicine
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.33, no.3, pp.127-132, 2005 (Released:2005-12-03)
参考文献数
32
被引用文献数
1 1

To estimate the time-dependent transmission potential of primary pneumonic plague (PPP), we analyzed historical records from six outbreaks. Based on contact investigation information (source of infection information) of three outbreaks, we generalized the probability density function of the serial interval with a Gamma distribution using maximum likelihood estimations. Furthermore, we used a likelihood-based approach to estimate effective reproduction numbers at time t, Rt, incorporating records from the remaining three outbreaks by assuming independence within unknown contact networks. According to our estimates, the Rt of PPP during the initial phases of each epidemic were roughly in the order of 1.3 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.0-4.3) in Oakland, 1.4 (0.0-4.6) in Rangoon and 6.5 (0.0-16.0) in Ecuador. The expected values of Rt were shown to slightly exceed unity, even in latter stages. While declining trends in Rt were observed in Oakland and Ecuador, no such trend was observed in Rangoon. The findings suggest that the three outbreaks investigated could have been accompanied by demographic stochasticity. The statistical usefulness of the transformation procedure, even with a small number of recorded cases available, was demonstrated, and the expected responses to bioterrorism using Yersinia pestis were discussed.
著者
James H. Diaz Chih-yang Hu
出版者
日本熱帯医学会
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.37, no.3, pp.79-95, 2009 (Released:2009-09-30)
参考文献数
72
被引用文献数
1 1

Seafood is an important source of dietary protein worldwide, especially for coastal and island dwellers who now comprise 70% of the world’s population. Besides being high in protein and providing 40% of the world’s protein intake, seafood is low in cholesterol and saturated fatty acids and contains unique long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Two seafood PUFAs, eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA) inhibit platelet aggregation and reduce mortality from myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke. Although the United States (U.S.) scientific community has recommended a Mediterranean-type diet, based on beneficial PUFAs in seafood, the European scientific community has cautioned that the increasing methylmercury levels in seafood may counteract any cardioprotective effects of PUFAs and actually increase risks of MI. This review describes the health benefits of seafood consumption and makes recommendations for the safe selection and preparation of seafood. In addition, this review describes the burden of seafood-borne diseases, separates seafood-borne toxic, heavy metal, and pesticide poisonings from seafood-borne infectious diseases; and makes recommendations for the management and prevention of seafood-borne illnesses. With the exception of some of the toxic seafood-borne illnesses, most seafood-borne infectious diseases, heavy metal poisonings, and pesticide poisonings can be prevented by careful selection and preparation of fresh seafood and adherence to weekly seafood consumption advisories, especially for those at highest risk of methylmercury poisoning, such as women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or of child-bearing age, and children age seven and younger. A balanced diet combining protein from a variety of sources, including carefully selected and prepared seafood, along with natural antioxidants from fruits and vegetables is recommended to prevent seafood-borne diseases and to promote health and longevity.
著者
Hermann Feldmeier Osuke Komazawa Kazuhiko Moji
出版者
日本熱帯医学会
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
pp.2014-S15, (Released:2014-05-27)
被引用文献数
1 3

This article summarizes observations made in Northern Uganda and a lecture given at the Nodding Syndrome Workshop in Nagasaki September 2013. The objective of the manuscript is to summarize the current knowledge on nodding syndrome and to provide an agenda for investigations into the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis and care management of nodding syndrome in Uganda.
著者
Basu D. Pandey Takeshi Nabeshima Kishor Pandey Saroj P. Rajendra Yogendra Shah Bal R. Adhikari Govinda Gupta Ishan Gautam Mya M. N. Tun Reo Uchida Mahendra Shrestha Ichiro Kurane Kouichi Morita
出版者
日本熱帯医学会
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
pp.2012-17, (Released:2013-08-20)
参考文献数
28
被引用文献数
6 32

Dengue is an emerging disease in Nepal and was first observed as an outbreak in nine lowland districts in 2006. In 2010, however, a large epidemic of dengue occurred with 4,529 suspected and 917 serologically-confirmed cases and five deaths reported in government hospitals in Nepal. The collection of demographic information was performed along with an entomological survey and clinical evaluation of the patients. A total of 280 serum samples were collected from suspected dengue patients. These samples were subjected to routine laboratory investigations and IgM-capture ELISA for dengue serological identification, and 160 acute serum samples were used for virus isolation, RT-PCR, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The results showed that affected patients were predominately adults, and that 10% of the cases were classified as dengue haemorrhagic fever/ dengue shock syndrome. The genetic characterization of dengue viruses isolated from patients in four major outbreak areas of Nepal suggests that the DENV-1 strain was responsible for the 2010 epidemic. Entomological studies identified Aedes aegypti in all epidemic areas. All viruses belonged to a monophyletic single clade which is phylogenetically close to Indian viruses. The dengue epidemic started in the lowlands and expanded to the highland areas. To our knowledge, this is the first dengue isolation and genetic characterization reported from Nepal.
著者
Duc Tuan Dinh Mai Thi Quynh Le Cuong Duc Vuong Futoshi Hasebe Kouichi Morita
出版者
日本熱帯医学会
雑誌
Tropical Medicine and Health (ISSN:13488945)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.39, no.1, pp.3-7, 2011 (Released:2011-03-24)
参考文献数
13
被引用文献数
22 53

We designed a new set of primers for reverse transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) to specifically amplify the HA gene of avian influenza viruses subtype H5N1. By testing nine H5N1 virus strains and 41 clinical samples collected in Northern Vietnam, we found that the new primers showed higher sensitivity and specificity than the previously published RT-LAMP primers and were comparable to the RT-PCR method currently recommended by WHO. These results suggest that our RT-LAMP assay may be a better choice as a diagnostic tool for current H5N1 influenza virus infection.