Noroviruses (NoVs) are the leading cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks in humans worldwide. Since late 2012, a new GII.4 variant Sydney 2012 has caused a significant increase in NoV epidemics in several countries. From November of 2012 to January of 2013, three gastroenteritis outbreaks occurred in two social welfare homes (Outbreaks A and B) and a factory (Outbreak C) in Shenzhen city of China. Feces and swabs were collected for laboratory tests for causative agents. While no bacterial pathogen was identified, all three outbreaks were caused by NoVs with detection rates of 26.2% (16/61) at Outbreak A, 35.2% (38/108) at Outbreak B), and 59.3% (16/27) at Outbreaks C. For Outbreak B, 25 of the 29 symptomatic individuals (86.2%) and 13 of the 79 asymptomatic individuals (16.5%) were found NoV-positive. For Outbreak C, an asymptomatic food handler was NoV-positive. All thirteen NoV sequences from the three outbreaks were classified into genogroup II and genotype 4 (GII.4), which we identified to be the GII.4 Sydney 2012 variant. The genome of two isolates from Outbreaks A and B were recombinant with the opening reading frame (ORF) 1 of GII.4 Osaka 2007 and ORF2 and 3 of the GII.4 New Orleans. Our study indicated that the GII.4 Sydney 2012 variant emerged and caused the outbreaks in China.
SUMMARY: An outbreak of norovirus GII.4/Sydney_2012 affected a China elder care facility in December 2012. A total of 39 elderly people and staff met the outbreak case definition. The attack rates in the elderly and the staff were 15.9z (31/195) and 23.2z (19/82), respectively, including 13 asymptomatic cases in the staff. The result of gene sequencing revealed that the outbreak was caused by norovirus GII.4 Sydney. The mode of transmission of this outbreak was proven to be person-to-person. The first case (a self-cared elder) was affected outside the elder care facility and was not isolated after returning. Norovirus was transmitted via close contact among the self-cared elderly. Then, through servicerelated close contact, the attendants promoted the cross-transmission between the self-cared elderly and the nursed elderly. The virus was also spread among the staff via daily contact. In the elder care facility, the asymptomatic cases in the attendants played an important role in the transmission of norovirus, which deserves high attention.
China has striven to improve its healthcare system by continuously reforming its health system and improving the quality of medical care (X. L. Li & Fu, 2017). Consequently, during the past decade, the overall public health of the Chinese population has improved significantly, with more than 95% of its citizens covered by the health insurance system. In addition, people are living longer because of access to more affordable and higher-quality healthcare services. However, despite these laudable achievements, distance and time are also important barriers hindering people's access to healthcare services (Song et al., 2022). People face long travel times to healthcare facilities when they are sick and seeking healthcare (Weiss et al., 2020). China is a vast country characterized by considerable regional differences. In general, rural and remote China are disadvantaged in the allocation of healthcare resources because of their underdeveloped economies and unfavorable geographic locations (C. Yang et al., 2022;Yip et al., 2019). However, the cost of healthcare facilities can also be heavy in densely populated cities as some areas lack sufficient health infrastructure, creating challenges for better healthy living across communities (
Background Migration is known to influence human health. China has a high migration rate and a significant number of people who are HIV-positive, but little is known about how these factors intersect in sexual risk behaviors. Objective This study aimed to explore sexual risk behaviors between migrants and non-migrants among newly diagnosed HIV infections, and assess the changes of sexual risk behaviors with length of stay in the current city of migrants. Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire was conducted among people newly diagnosed with HIV from July 2018 to December 2020 who lived in Zhejiang Province. In the study, sexual risk behaviors included having multiple sexual partners and unprotected sexual behaviors (in commercial sexual behaviors, non-commercial sexual behaviors, heterosexual behaviors, and homosexual behaviors). Binary logistic regression models were employed to explore the influencing factors of sexual risk behaviors, measured by multiple sexual partners and unprotected sexual partners. Results A total of 836 people newly diagnosed with HIV/AIDS were incorporated in the study and 65.31% (546) were migrants. The percentages of non-commercial sexual behaviors among migrants were statistically higher than those of non-migrants. Commercial heterosexual behavior was higher among non-migrants compared with migrants. The proportion of study participants having unprotected sexual behaviors and multiple sexual partners with commercial/non-commercial partners was both higher among migrants compared with non-migrants. Among migrants, the likelihood of sexual risk behaviors in both commercial and non-commercial sex increased in the first 3 years and reduced after 10 years. Compared with non-migrants, migrants were statistically associated with multiple sexual partners [P = .007, odds ratio (OR) = 1.942]. However, migrants did not exhibit a significant difference in unprotected sexual behaviors compared with non-migrants. In addition, migrants aged between 18 and 45 years who relocated to the current city in the past 2–3 years tended to have multiple sexual partners (P < .05). Conclusions People newly diagnosed with HIV engaged in different sexual risk behaviors among migrants and non-migrants and more attention should be paid to migrants. For non-migrants, it is urgent to promote the prevention of commercial sexual behaviors. For migrants, prevention of non-commercial sexual behaviors and universal access to health care especially for new arrivals who migrated to the current city for 2–3 years are needed. Moreover, sexual health education and early HIV diagnosis are necessary for the entire population.
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