- How do Memish et al. (2019) describe the emerging discipline of “mass gatherings medicine”? Please do not cut-and-paste from the article; please use original language
- According to Memish et al. (2019), infectious disease transmission is one of the many potential hazards associated with mass gatherings. They describe the following routes of transmission as being concerning: waterborne, vector-borne, respiratory, bloodborne, sexually-transmitted, and foodborne. Choose three routes of transmission, and explain why each route may pose a public health challenge in the context of mass gatherings.
- Review the section in the Memish et al. (2019) article on The Hajj Pilgrimages – 2015, 2016, and 2017, paying special attention to the sub-section on Infectious Diseases at the Hajj. The Ministry of Health (MOH) of Saudi Arabia maintains extensive surveillance systems to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks during the Hajj. Describe the basic structure of the MOH infectious disease surveillance systems, and then describe their approach to coronaviruses. Again, please do not cut-and-paste from the article; please use original language
- DOT (Directly Observed Treatment) is the standard of care for tuberculosis patients, and involves a healthcare professional or community health worker directly observing patients as they consume their tuberculosis treatment regimen. Story et al. (2019) conducted a study comparing DOT versus VOT for treatment of tuberculosis. Please define “synchronous VOT” and “asynchronous VOT” as considered for use in this study. Do not cut-and-paste from the article; use original language
- Story et al. (2019) conducted a multicenter, analyst-blinded, randomized, controlled, superiority trial to compare the standard of care, DOT, to the new intervention, VOT. Randomization was performed by a third-party application. To ensure that it actually worked correctly, the authors compared their DOT group to their VOT group. Please review Table 1: Baseline Characteristics of the Study Population, and then answer the following questions.
- Are there any significant differences between the groups “as randomized”?
- Are there any significant differences between the groups “restricted”?
- What does “restricted” mean in this study?
- Why do you think that the authors conducted separate analyses for the groups “as randomized” (the Intention-to-Treat Analysis) and “restricted” (the Restricted Analysis)
- Story et al. (2019) deliberately worked with “socially complex” patients in this trial, because these patient populations are among the most difficult to monitor. …
- For purposes of this trial, what factors would make the authors consider a patient to be “socially complex”?
- Which approach did the authors find to be less expensive – DOT or VOT?
- Which approach did the authors find to be more effective for “socially complex” populations – DOT or VOT?
- Story et al. (2019) demonstrated that VOT was more effective and less expensive than DOT in their study among “socially complex” populations. Do they also believe that VOT could be scalable, and why or why not?
Maximum characters no more than 32 for each question.
