Every year, on May 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) invites us all to join together to mark World No Tobacco Day.1 On this day, we highlight the health risks associated with tobacco use and we pledge to continue working together to advocate for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. The most important public health issue in the Asia-Pacific region continues to be tobacco use.2...

BACKGROUND To determine the importance of spirometric testing for early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS Spirometric testing has been performed annually on World COPD Day in Sezana from 2003. Sezana is in a semiurban region of Slovenia, with 12,000 inhabitants. The investigation was performed between January 2003 and December 2008. In total, 770 persons were ...

November 12th marks the eighth annual World Pneumonia Day, observed to raise awareness of pneumonia as a global public health concern for persons of all ages and a leading infectious cause of death of children aged <5 years, causing approximately 900,000 child deaths annually (1). In the United States, the majority of the 53,000 annual pneumonia deaths occur in persons aged ≥65 years. Respirato...

234 Implementation of New TB Screening Requirements for U.S.-Bound Immigrants and Refugees — 2007–2014 237 Combined Use of Inactivated and Oral Poliovirus Vaccines in Refugee Camps and Surrounding Communities — Kenya, December 2013 242 Update on Vaccine-Derived Polioviruses — Worldwide, July 2012–December 2013 249 Notes from the Field: A Cluster of Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus Infections ...

1Department of Laboratory Medicine, National University Hospital 2Department of Haematology-Oncology, National University Hospital Address for Correspondence: Dr Tan Lip Kun, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Level 3, Main Building, National University Hospital, Singapore 119074. Email: [email protected] This year’s World Blood Donor Day falls on the 14 June. The World Blood Donor Day co...

Infections with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are major causes of morbidity and mortality globally, primarily because of sequelae of chronic liver disease including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (1). The risks for HBV and HCV transmission via blood transfusions have been described previously (2) and are believed to be higher in countries in sub-Saharan Africa (3)....

R ecent data from the Global Burden of Disease project provide alarming statistics about the rapidly growing burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the world. The data from the Global Burden of Disease project reveal a dramatic increase (90%) of global years of life lost to CKD from 1990 to 2013; it is now the 13th leading cause of death worldwide. CKD, which results in almost 1 million deat...