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Background: Chongqing is the largest municipality and located in Southwestern of China, with over 30 million registered inhabitants. There are few reports regarding the epidemiology of influenza in Chongqing. The objective of the paper is to explore the epidemiology of influenza in Chongqing, in order to provide scientific basis for prevention and control of influenza. Methodology /Principal Findings: From 2011 to 2015, we collected information on influenza-like illness (ILI) patients fulfilling the case definition, and took nasalpharyngeal or throat swabs specimens from ILI cases per week at the 7 sentinel hospitals. Specimens were tested by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) for influenza. Descriptive epidemiology was applied to analyze the epidemiology and etiology of influenza. A total of 9,696,212 cases were enrolled, of which 111,589 were ILI. Of those 24,868 samples from ILI cases, 13.3% (3,314/24,868) tested positive for influenza virus (65.7% influenza A, 34.1% influenza B, and 0.2% influenza A and B co-infection). Among the influenza A viruses, 71.3% were seasonal influenza A(H3N2) and 28.7% were influenza A(H1N1)pdm09. No cases of seasonal A(H1N1) were detected. The isolation rate was highest in children aged 5–14 years old. Influenza activity consistently peaked during January-March in 2011–2015, and June-July in 2012, 2014 and 2015. Conclusions: Influenza is an important public health problem among ILI patients in Chongqing, especially among school-aged children. It might be beneficial to prioritize influenza vaccination for school-aged children and implement the school-based intervention to prevent and mitigating influenza outbreaks in Chongqing, particularly during the seasonal peaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) represents a threat to health and development in countries with high TB burden. China’s MDR-TB prevalence rate of 6.8% is the highest in the world. Interventions to remove barriers against effective TB control, and prevention of MDR-TB are urgently needed in the country. This paper reports a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 513 pulmonary TB (PTB) patients, and qualitative interviews of 10 healthcare workers (HCWs), and 15 PTB patients. The objective was to assess barriers against effective control of PTB and prevention of MDR-TB by elucidating the perspectives of patients and healthcare providers. Results showed that more than half of the patients experienced patient delay of over 12.5 days. A similar proportion also experienced detection delay of over 30 days, and delay in initiating treatment of over 31 days. Consulting a non-TB health facility ≥3 times before seeking care at TB dispensary was a risk factor for both detection delay [AOR (95% CI): 1.89(1.07, 3.34) and delay in initiating treatment[AOR (95% CI): 1.88 (1.06, 3.36). Results revealed poor implementation of Directly Observed Therapy (DOT), whereby treatment of 34.3% patients was never monitored by HCWs. Only 31.8% patients had ever accessed TB health education before their TB diagnosis. Qualitative data consistently disclosed long patient delay, and indicated that patient’s poor TB knowledge and socioeconomic barriers were primary reasons for patient delay. Seeking care and being treated at a non-TB hospital was an important reason for detection delay. Patient’s long work hours and low income increased risk for treatment non-adherence. Evidence-based measures to improve TB health seeking behavior, reduce patient and detection delays, improve the quality of DOT, address financial and system barriers, and increase access to TB health promotion are urgently needed to address the burgeoning prevalence of MDR-TB in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, as an increasing number of neuronal autoantibodies have been detected and used for clinical diagnosis, clinicians have become more aware of autoimmune encephalitis, causing its reported incidence to trend upward over several years. To date, however, there has been no large-scale epidemiological survey of autoimmune encephalitis in adults and children, and its epidemiological characteristics remain unclear. Six main types of antibodies are detected and used to diagnose autoimmune encephalitis in Chongqing, Southwestern China: anti-NMDA receptor antibody, anti-GABAB receptor antibody, anti-LGI1 antibody, anti-CASPR2 antibody, anti-AMPA1 receptor antibody, and anti-AMPA2 receptor antibody. From January 2012 to February 2018, 189 patients at six general hospitals in Chongqing were diagnosed with autoimmune encephalitis and were positive for neuronal autoantibodies. In this report, the epidemic situation and the antibody distribution among these patients are analyzed and described in detail. The differences in disease severity among different ages and between the sexes are evaluated, and the correlation between antibody titer and disease severity is also assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To estimate the average social network size in the general population and the size of HIV key affected populations (KAPs) in Chongqing municipality using the network scale-up method (NSUM). Methods: A general population survey was conducted in 2011 through a multistage random sampling method. Participants aged between 18 and 60 years were recruited. The average social network size (c) was estimated and adjusted by known population method. The size of HIV KAP in Chongqing municipality was estimated using the adjusted c value with adjustment for the transmission effect using the scaled respect factor. Results: 3,026 inhabitants of Chongqing agreed to the survey, and 2,957 (97.7%) completed the questionnaire. The adjusted c value was 310. The estimated size of KAP was 28,418(95% Confidence Interval (CI):26,636∼30,201) for female sex workers (FSW), 163,199(95%CI:156,490∼169,908) for clients of FSW, 37,959(95%CI: 34,888∼41,030) for drug users (DU), 14,975(95%CI:13,047∼16,904) for injecting drug users (IDU) and 16,767(95%CI:14,602∼18,932) for men who have sex with men (MSM). The ratio of clients to FSW was 5.74∶1, and IDU accounted for 39.5% of the DU population. The estimates suggest that FSW account for 0.37% of the female population aged 15–49 years in Chongqing, and clients of FSW and MSM represent 2.09% and 0.21% of the male population aged 15–49 years in the city, respectively. Conclusion: NSUM provides reasonable population size estimates for FSW, their clients, DU and IDU in Chongqing. However, it is likely to underestimate the population size of MSM even after adjusting for the transmission effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]