Health system and environmental factors affecting global progress towards achieving End TB targets between 2015 and 2020.

Background: Health system and environmental factors play a significant role in achieving the World Health Organization (WHO) End Tuberculosis (TB) targets. However, quantitative measures are scarce or non-existent at a global level. We aimed to measure the progress made towards meeting the global End TB milestones from 2015 to 2020 and identify health system and environmental factors contributing to the success.

Liver and cardiometabolic markers and conditions in a cross-sectional study of three Australian communities living with environmental per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances contamination.

Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been associated with higher cholesterol and liver function markers in some studies, but the evidence for specific cardiometabolic conditions has been inconclusive.

Objectives: We quantified the associations of single and combined PFAS with cardiometabolic markers and conditions in a cross-sectional study of three Australian communities with PFAS-contaminated water from the historical use of aqueous film-forming foam in firefighting activities, and three comparison communities.

Methods: Participants gave blood samples for measurement of nine PFAS, four lipids, six liver function markers, and completed a survey on sociodemographic characteristics and eight cardiometabolic conditions.

Neglected tropical diseases in Australia: a narrative review.

•Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) represent a threat to the health, wellbeing and economic prosperity of billions of people worldwide, often causing serious disease or death. •Commonly considered diseases of low and middle-income nations, the presence of NTDs in high income countries such as Australia is often overlooked. •Seven of the 20 recognised NTDs are endemic in Australia: scabies, soil-transmitted helminths and strongyloidiasis, echinococcosis, Buruli ulcer, leprosy, trachoma, and snakebite envenoming.

Spatial clustering of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Hunan province, China: an ecological study.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the spatial distribution of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in Hunan province, China.

Methods: An ecological study was conducted using DR-TB data collected from the Tuberculosis Control Institute of Hunan Province between 2012 and 2018. Spatial clustering of DR-TB was explored using the Getis-Ord statistic.

Impact of the "BALatrine" Intervention on Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections in Central Java, Indonesia: A Pilot Study.

Many latrine campaigns in developing countries fail to be sustained because the introduced latrine is not appropriate to local socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions, and there is an inadequate community health education component. We tested a low-cost, locally designed and constructed all-weather latrine (the "BALatrine"), together with community education promoting appropriate hygiene-related behaviour, to determine whether this integrated intervention effectively controlled soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections. We undertook a pilot intervention study in two villages in Central Java, Indonesia.

Methods used in the spatial analysis of tuberculosis epidemiology: a systematic review.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) transmission often occurs within a household or community, leading to heterogeneous spatial patterns. However, apparent spatial clustering of TB could reflect ongoing transmission or co-location of risk factors and can vary considerably depending on the type of data available, the analysis methods employed and the dynamics of the underlying population. Thus, we aimed to review methodological approaches used in the spatial analysis of TB burden.

Spatial and temporal patterns of diarrhoea in Bhutan 2003-2013.

Background: To describe spatiotemporal patterns of diarrhoea in Bhutan, and quantify the association between climatic factors and the distribution and dynamics of the disease.

Methods: Nationwide data on diarrhoea were obtained for 2003 to 2013 from the Health Information and Management System (HIMS), Ministry of Health, Bhutan. Climatic variables were obtained from the Department of Hydro Met Services, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bhutan.

Assessing control bundles for Clostridium difficile: a review and mathematical model.

Clostridium difficile is the leading cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitalized patients. Integrating several infection control and prevention methods is a burgeoning strategy for reducing disease incidence in healthcare settings. We present an up-to-date review of the literature on 'control bundles' used to mitigate the transmission of this pathogen.

Health education and the control of intestinal worm infections in China: a new vision.

Background: The transmission of soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) is associated with poverty, poor hygiene behaviour, lack of clean water and inadequate waste disposal and sanitation. Periodic administration of benzimidazole drugs is the mainstay for global STH control but it does not prevent re-infection, and is unlikely to interrupt transmission as a stand-alone intervention.

Findings: We reported recently on the development and successful testing in Hunan province, PR China, of a health education package to prevent STH infections in Han Chinese primary school students.

Plasmodium vivax malaria incidence over time and its association with temperature and rainfall in four counties of Yunnan Province, China.

Background: Transmission of Plasmodium vivax malaria is dependent on vector availability, biting rates and parasite development. In turn, each of these is influenced by climatic conditions. Correlations have previously been detected between seasonal rainfall, temperature and malaria incidence patterns in various settings.

A threshold analysis of dengue transmission in terms of weather variables and imported dengue cases in Australia.

Dengue virus (DENV) transmission in Australia is driven by weather factors and imported dengue fever (DF) cases. However, uncertainty remains regarding the threshold effects of high-order interactions among weather factors and imported DF cases and the impact of these factors on autochthonous DF. A time-series regression tree model was used to assess the threshold effects of natural temporal variations of weekly weather factors and weekly imported DF cases in relation to incidence of weekly autochthonous DF from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2009 in Townsville and Cairns, Australia.

An updated atlas of human helminth infections: the example of East Africa.

Background: Reliable and updated maps of helminth (worm) infection distributions are essential to target control strategies to those populations in greatest need. Although many surveys have been conducted in endemic countries, the data are rarely available in a form that is accessible to policy makers and the managers of public health programmes. This is especially true in sub-Saharan Africa, where empirical data are seldom in the public domain.