Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2017Estimating the Fitness Cost and Benefit of Cefixime Resistance in Neisseria Gonorrhoeae
Gonorrhoea is one of the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infections in England, and more …
Gonorrhoea is one of the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infections in England, and more than half of annual infections occur in men who have sex with men (MSM). As the bacterium has developed resistance to each first-line antibiotic in turn, an improved understanding is needed of fitness benefits and costs of antibiotic resistance to inform control policy and planning. The authors developed a stochastic compartmental model representing the natural history and transmission of cefixime-sensitive…
Decision Analysis | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Health Systems | Infectious Diseases | Dynamic Transmission | Risk Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Science/Technology | Global -
ArticlePublication 2021Racial and Ethnic Inequities in the Early Distribution of U.S. COVID-19 Testing Sites and Mortality
In 2020, U.S. COVID-19 testing sites were pivotal not just for diagnosis but also to …
In 2020, U.S. COVID-19 testing sites were pivotal not just for diagnosis but also to provide data that would contribute to understanding transmission. This research explored how these sites were distributed in relation to racial and ethnic demographics and its connection to observed disparities in COVID-19 outcomes. Data from mid-April to late May 2020 revealed that testing sites were not equally distributed among racial groups. Specifically, there was an overrepresentation of testing sites in areas…
Test Performance | Health/Medicine | Culture/Society | Infectious Diseases | Health Outcomes | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Science/Technology | North America -
ArticlePublication 2022Comparison of Home Antigen Testing With RT-PCR and Viral Culture During the Course of SARS-CoV-2 Infection
As the availability of at-home self-collected antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2 increases, understanding their efficacy is …
As the availability of at-home self-collected antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2 increases, understanding their efficacy is crucial. A study in San Diego and Denver between January and May 2021 assessed the reliability of these tests against standard RT-PCR tests and viral cultures. Of the 225 participants with confirmed infections, the antigen test sensitivity was found to be 50% during the infectious period, 64% against the same-day RT-PCR, and 84% against the same-day cultures. Sensitivity was highest…
Test Performance | Health/Medicine | Culture/Society | Infectious Diseases | Clinical Care | Science/Technology -
ArticlePublication 2022Vaccinations versus Lockdowns to Prevent COVID-19 Mortality
This analysis estimated the costs associated with preventing Covid-19 deaths by vaccinations versus lockdowns. Publicly …
This analysis estimated the costs associated with preventing Covid-19 deaths by vaccinations versus lockdowns. Publicly available datasets from the Israeli Ministry of Health were used to model the parameters of the pandemic in Israel. The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker was used for quantitative data on government policies. Data on the Israeli economy were taken from the Central Bureau of Statistics. The models demonstrate that the first lockdown prevented 1022 COVID-19 deaths at the cost…
Decision Analysis | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Decision Theory | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | State-Transition | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Middle East & North Africa -
ArticlePublication 2020Infectious Disease Pandemic Planning and Response: Incorporating Decision Analysis
During a pandemic, decisions must be made under rapidly changing, uncertain conditions. Despite advances in …
During a pandemic, decisions must be made under rapidly changing, uncertain conditions. Despite advances in analytical methods for gaining early situational awareness (i.e., of a disease’s transmissibility and severity) and for predicting the likely effectiveness of interventions, a major gap exists globally in terms of integrating this information in policy documents. The authors argue that mathematical and statistical models are important tools for pandemic planning and response. Once an outbreak of pandemic potential has been…
Decision Analysis | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Health Systems | Mathematical Models | Global -
ArticlePublication 2017Cost-Effectiveness of Testing and Treatment for Latent TB
Testing for and treating latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is among the main strategies to achieve …
Testing for and treating latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is among the main strategies to achieve TB elimination in the United States. This analysis estimated health outcomes, costs, and cost-effectiveness of LTBI testing and treatment among non-US born residents with and without medical comorbidities (e.g., diabetes, HIV infection, and end-stage renal disease). A decision analytic tree and Markov cohort simulation model was used to compare the following strategies: no testing, tuberculin skin test (TST), interferon gamma release assay…
Test Performance | Health/Medicine | Health Systems | Infectious Diseases | State-Transition | Microsimulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Economics/Finance | Global | North America -
ArticlePublication 2017Likelihood Approach for Calibration of Stochastic Epidemic Models
Stochastic transmission dynamic models are especially useful for studying the early emergence of novel pathogens …
Stochastic transmission dynamic models are especially useful for studying the early emergence of novel pathogens given the importance of chance events when the number of infectious individuals is small. However, methods for parameter estimation and prediction for these types of stochastic models remain limited. This paper describes a calibration and prediction framework for stochastic compartmental transmission models of epidemics. The proposed method applies a linear noise approximation to describe the size of the fluctuations, and…
Calibration/Validation | Health/Medicine | Health Systems | Infectious Diseases | Dynamic Transmission | Dynamic Simulation | Global -
ArticlePublication 2014Cost-Effectiveness of Female HPV Vaccination in 179 Countries: A PRIME Modelling Study
The authors present a simple generic model, Papillomavirus Rapid Interface for Modelling and Economics (PRIME), …
The authors present a simple generic model, Papillomavirus Rapid Interface for Modelling and Economics (PRIME), used to assess cost-effectiveness and health effects of vaccination of girls against HPV before sexual debut in terms of burden of cervical cancer and mortality. The PRIME models incidence according to proposed vaccine efficacy against HPV 16/18, vaccine coverage, cervical cancer incidence and mortality, and HPV type distribution. It assumes lifelong vaccine protection and no changes to other screening programs…
Calibration/Validation | Health/Medicine | Health Systems | Infectious Diseases | Health Outcomes | Mathematical Models | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Global | Sub-Saharan Africa | Middle East & North Africa | Latin America & Caribbean | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2009Cost-Effectiveness of Rotavirus Vaccination in Vietnam
This article reports on a cost-effectiveness analysis of rotavirus vaccination, including varying degrees of severity, …
This article reports on a cost-effectiveness analysis of rotavirus vaccination, including varying degrees of severity, age-dependency of clinical manifestation, and additional features of the disease (e.g., the possibility of reinfection and varying degrees of partial immunity conferred by natural infection). The authors developed a Markov model that reflects key features of rotavirus infection, using the most recent data available at the time of their analysis. They applied the model to the 2004 Vietnamese birth cohort…
Calibration/Validation | Health/Medicine | Health Systems | Infectious Diseases | Mathematical Models | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Asia & Pacific