Independent consultant epidemiologist, Paris, France.
Department of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt.
East Mediterr Health J. 2019 Jan 23;24(11):1049-1057. doi: 10.26719/emhj.18.002.
The emergence and re-emergence of viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) is a growing concern worldwide. They are associated with major epidemics with an estimated 51-101 million cases each year, of which around 67 000 are fatal. In 2007, 13 countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region reported VHF cases.
The main purpose of the study was to review the epidemiological situation in the Region vis-à-vis VHFs to obtain baseline epidemiological information for the establishment of the Emerging Dangerous Pathogen Laboratory Network (EDPLN).
A literature search was performed using PubMed, ProMED-Mail and GIDEON databases. Reported data included disease burden (reported cases and deaths), human prevalence (general population, high-risk groups), vectors and reservoirs. A scoring method was employed to divide countries into 4 groups (very highly, highly, medium and low affected countries).
Very highly affected countries were Afghanistan, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. Highly affected countries were Djibouti, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Tunisia and Yemen. Medium affected countries were Iraq, Somalia and United Arab Emirates. Low affected countries were Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Qatar and Syrian Arab Republic.
This study contributes in prioritizing countries to be part of EDPLN and in addressing specific needs related to outbreak investigations, surveillance and research.
病毒性出血热（VHF）的出现和再现是全球日益关注的问题。它们与每年估计有 5100 万至 1.01 亿例、其中约 6.7 万例致命的重大疫情有关。2007 年，东地中海区域的 13 个国家报告了 VHF 病例。
本研究的主要目的是审查该区域 VHF 的流行病学情况，以获得建立新发危险病原体实验室网络（EDPLN）的基线流行病学信息。
使用 PubMed、ProMED-Mail 和 GIDEON 数据库进行文献检索。报告的数据包括疾病负担（报告病例和死亡）、人群流行率（普通人群、高危人群）、媒介和宿主。采用评分方法将国家分为 4 组（受影响非常严重、严重、中度和低度的国家）。
受影响非常严重的国家为阿富汗、埃及、伊朗伊斯兰共和国、沙特阿拉伯和苏丹。受影响严重的国家为吉布提、摩洛哥、阿曼、巴基斯坦、突尼斯和也门。受影响中度的国家为伊拉克、索马里和阿拉伯联合酋长国。受影响低度的国家为巴林、约旦、黎巴嫩、利比亚、巴勒斯坦、卡塔尔和阿拉伯叙利亚共和国。
本研究有助于确定优先参与 EDPLN 的国家，并解决与疫情调查、监测和研究相关的具体需求。
