title: Burden of acute respiratory disease of epidemic and pandemic potential in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region: A literature review.
abstract: There are gaps in the knowledge about the burden of severe respiratory disease in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). This literature review was therefore conducted to describe the burden of epidemicand pandemic-prone acute respiratory infections (ARI) in the Region which may help in the development of evidence-based disease prevention and control policies. Relevant published and unpublished reports were identified from searches of various databases; 83 documents fulfilled the search criteria. The infections identified included: ARI, avian influenza A(H5N1), influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection. Pneumonia and ARIs were leading causes of disease and death in the Region. Influenza A(H1N1) was an important cause of morbidity during the 2009 pandemic. This review provides a descriptive summary of the burden of acute respiratory diseases in the Region, but there still remains a lack of necessary data.
authors.affiliation: WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abubakar
authors.affiliation: WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.affiliation: Flu Surveillance, Public Health England, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Pebody
authors.affiliation: WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Elkholy
authors.affiliation: WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Freelance Consultant, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bellos
authors.affiliation: WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mala
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / Q000302:isolation & purification; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019083:Mediterranean Region / Q000453:epidemiology; D065207:Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014944:World Health Organization