The decision to vaccinate against COVID-19 is primarily a personal choice influenced by numerous factors. Vaccine acceptance and a positive attitude towards vaccination among nurses have an impact on ...patients’ willingness to vaccinate. To assess COVID-19 vaccination coverage among primary healthcare nurses and to associate socio-demographic factors, comorbidity, self-rated health, and unhealthy lifestyle with the decision to be vaccinated, we conducted an online cross-sectional study from March to May 2023 using a self-administrated questionnaire. Probability sampling was used to select 32 health centers and nurses were invited via email. Among the 560 participants who completed survey, 78.3% and 50.8% received the primary two-dose course and at least one booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine, respectively. Primary care nurses who were ≥41 years of age, physically less active, and those who were overweight opted statistically significantly more often for the primary vaccination scheme (p = 0.00, 0.015 and 0.017, respectively). Education and the living environments of primary care nurses did not significantly influence the decision to receive two primary COVID-19 doses. Likewise, good self-rated health and comorbidity did not contribute significantly to the vaccination decision. Nurses that were vaccinated with booster doses were significantly more often overweight (p = 0.034) and ≥41 year of age (p = 0.000).
Highlights • Data associating influenza B lineages variation are scarce. • Patients with influenza B Victoria and Yamagata lineages infection were compared. • No significant differences were ...identified in clinical presentation. • Frequency of influenza B Victoria and Yamagata infection was age dependent.
Due to the high socioeconomic burden of rhinoviruses, the development of prevention and treatment strategies is of high importance. Understanding the epidemiological and clinical features of ...rhinoviruses is essential in order to address these issues. Our study aimed to define the seasonality and molecular epidemiology of rhinoviruses in Slovenia. Over a period of eight years, a total of 20,425 patients from sentinel primary healthcare settings and sentinel hospitals were examined for a panel of respiratory viruses in the national programme for the surveillance of influenza-like illnesses and acute respiratory infections. The patients were from all age groups and had respiratory infections of various severity. Infection with a rhinovirus was confirmed using an RT-rPCR in 1834 patients, and 1480 rhinoviruses were genotyped. The molecular analysis was linked to demographical and meteorological data. We confirmed the year-round circulation of rhinoviruses with clear seasonal cycles, resulting in two seasonal waves with peaks in spring and autumn. High levels of genotype variability and co-circulation were confirmed between and within seasons and were analysed in terms of patient age, the patient source reflecting disease severity, and meteorological factors. Our study provides missing scientific information on the genotype diversity of rhinoviruses in Slovenia. As most previous investigations focused on exclusive segments of the population, such as children or hospitalised patients, and for shorter study periods, our study, with its design, size and length, contributes complementary aspects and new evidence-based knowledge to the regional and global understanding of rhinovirus seasonality and molecular epidemiology.
Background
In Slovenia, the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) surveillance is based on national laboratory data. The weeks with more than 10% of samples tested positive compose RSV epidemic season. ...The use of real‐time multiplex PCR, which identifies other respiratory pathogens in parallel with RSV, caused more testing but the percentage of RSV positives lowered. The 10% threshold was reached with delay, which raised concern about its suitability for defining RSV seasonality.
Methods
To describe the seasonality of RSV, the onset, offset and duration of the RSV epidemic season across 10 years (from week 40, 2008/2009 to week 39, 2017/2018), four calculative methods were deployed including moving epidemic method, MEM, and epidemiological parameters were compared.
Results
In 10 years, 10 969 (12%) out of 90 264 samples tested positive for RSV. The number of tested samples increased remarkably from the first to last season with a drop in the percentage of positive samples from 23% to 10%. The onset of RSV epidemic varied considerably regardless of the calculative method used (from 10 to 13 weeks). The unevenness in the RSV epidemic season end was also observed. The average duration of RSV epidemic season was the shortest when moving epidemic method has been used (15.7 weeks) and longest with ≥3% method (22.9 weeks).
Conclusion
The ≥3% calculative method could be used as an early warning of the RSV season. However, ≥7% calculative method was found to be reliable enough to define the epidemiological parameters of an ongoing season and to support public health response. The potential of the moving epidemic method should be further explored.
Despite decreasing COVID-19 disease severity during the Omicron waves, a proportion of patients still require hospitalization and intensive care.
To compare demographic characteristics, ...comorbidities, vaccination status, and previous infections in patients hospitalized for community-associated COVID-19 (CAC) in predominantly Delta, Omicron BA.1 and BA.4/5 SARS-CoV-2 waves.
Data were extracted from three national databases-the National COVID-19 Database, National Vaccination Registry and National Registry of Hospitalizations.
Among the hospitalized CAC patients analyzed in this study, 5,512 were infected with Delta, 1,120 with Omicron BA.1, and 1,143 with the Omicron BA.4/5 variant. The age and sex structure changed from Delta to BA.4/5, with the proportion of women (9.5% increase), children and adolescents (10.4% increase), and octa- and nonagenarians increasing significantly (24.5% increase). Significantly more patients had comorbidities (measured by the Charlson Comorbidity Index), 30.3% in Delta and 43% in BA.4/5 period. The need for non-invasive ventilatory support (NiVS), ICU admission, mechanical ventilation (MV), and in-hospital mortality (IHM) decreased from Delta to Omicron BA.4/5 period for 12.6, 13.5, 11.5, and 6.3%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed significantly lower odds for ICU admission (OR 0.68, CI 0.54-0.84,
< 0.001) and IHM (OR 0.74, CI 0.58-0.93,
= 0.011) during the Delta period in patients who had been fully vaccinated or boosted with a COVID-19 vaccine within the previous 6 months. In the BA.1 variant period, patients who had less than 6 months elapsed between the last vaccine dose and SARS-CoV-2 positivity had lower odds for MV (OR 0.38, CI 0.18-0.72,
= 0.005) and IHM (OR 0.56, CI 0.37- 0.83,
= 0.005), but not for NIVS or ICU admission.
The likelihood of developing severe CAC in hospitalized patients was higher in those with the Delta and Omicron BA.1 variant compared to BA.4/5.
BackgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the predominant cause of clinical pneumonia among infants and young children, often peaking during the winter months in temperate regions.AimTo describe ...RSV seasonality in 13 European countries and examine its association with meteorological factors.MethodsWe included weekly RSV seasonality data from 13 European countries between week 40 2010 and week 39 2019. Using local weighted regression method, we modelled weekly RSV activity with meteorological factors using data from the 2010/11 to the 2017/18 season. We predicted the weekly RSV activity of the 2018/19 season across 41 European countries and validated our prediction using empirical data.ResultsAll countries had annual wintertime RSV seasons with a longitudinal gradient in RSV onset (Pearson's correlation coefficient, r = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.60 to 0.80). The RSV season started 3.8 weeks later (95% CI: -0.5 to 8.0) in countries in the eastern vs western parts of Europe, and the duration ranged from 8-18 weeks across seasons and countries. Lower temperature and higher relative humidity were associated with higher RSV activity, with a 14-day lag time. Through external validation, the prediction error in RSV season onset was -2.4 ± 3.2 weeks. Similar longitudinal gradients in RSV onset were predicted by our model for the 2018/19 season (r = 0.45, 95% CI: 0.16 to 0.66).ConclusionMeteorological factors, such as temperature and relative humidity, could be used for early warning of RSV season onset. Our findings may inform healthcare services planning and optimisation of RSV immunisation strategies in Europe.
Background
SARS-CoV-2 infection does not confer long immunity. However, studies suggest that prior infection is associated with lower risk of reinfection and milder outcomes of recurrent infections. ...The aims of this retrospective observational case-control study were to describe the clinical and molecular characteristics of genetically confirmed Delta reinfection cases and to assess the potential protective role of preceding infection on the severity of reinfection.
Methods
We used next generation sequencing (NGS) to explore if cases with two positive real time RT-PCR tests > 90 days apart were infected with a different SARS-CoV-2 variant. Cases with confirmed reinfection between August 1st and October 31st, 2021 (the Delta wave) in Slovenia were matched 1:4 by age, sex and timeframe (week of positive test) with individuals with primary infection. Sociodemographic and epidemiologic data, vaccination status, and data on hospitalization and outcome of infection were retrieved from several centralized and standardized national databases. Additional epidemiologic surveys were performed on a limited number of cases and controls.
Results
We identified 628 cases of genetically confirmed reinfection during the study period and matched them with 2,512 control subjects with Delta primary infection. Primary infections in individuals with reinfection were mainly caused by B.1.258.17 (51.1%), followed by B.1.1.7 (15.1%) and reinfection was detected on average 271 days after primary infection (range 101–477 days). Our results show a substantially lower probability of hospitalization in cases with reinfection compared with controls (OR: 0.21,
p
= 0.017), but no significant difference was observed in intensive care unit admission and deaths. We observed a significantly lower proportion of vaccinated individuals among cases compared to controls (4.5% vs. 28.2%), suggesting that hybrid immunity leads to lower probability of reinfection. Detailed analysis of the temporal distribution of variants, responsible for reinfections, showed no significant differences in reinfection potential.
Conclusion
Reinfection with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant resulted in fewer hospitalizations compared to the primary Delta infection, suggesting that primary infection may, to some extent, produce at least short lasting protective immunity. This study provides additional insight into the reinfection dynamics that may allow appropriate public health measures to be taken in subsequent waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To analyze the 2009/2010 epidemiological data of patients hospitalized for confirmed pandemic influenza in Slovenia.
We conducted a retrospective analysis of health statistical data collected in an ...electronic data set Diagnosis-related Group system. Data on age, sex, primary and secondary diagnoses, duration of hospital stay, admission to the intensive care unit, disease outcome, and the week of the admission to the hospital were extracted for patients diagnosed with confirmed influenza virus infection.
A total of 748 (hospitalization rate 37.4/100,000) patients diagnosed with confirmed influenza virus infection were admitted to 19 public hospitals and 7 private acute care providers during the period from September 28, 2009 to April 11, 2010. The highest admission rate was recorded for mid-November 2009. Out of 748 hospitalized patients, 411 (55%) were children younger than 15 years. Influenza was coded as the primary diagnosis in 536 patients. In 35% of the patients, influenza caused viral pneumonia. Fewer than one third of patients (28%) had a pre-existing chronic disease and/or condition predisposing them to complicated or adverse outcomes of influenza, most frequently chronic lung diseases, mainly asthma. A median hospital stay was 2 days for children and 5 days for adult patients. Longer hospitalization was required in patients who had a secondary diagnosis of influenza. Older male individuals suffering from pneumonia and chronic diseases were overrepresented among cases admitted to the intensive care units.
The epidemiological data extracted from the Diagnosis-related Group system in Slovenia were comparable with the data on pandemic patients published elsewhere.
A cross-sectional, age-stratified study was conducted to determine varicella-zoster seroprevalence and force of infection in Slovenia.
3689 serum samples were tested for VZV IgG antibodies with an ...enzyme immunoassay. Semiparametric and parametric modelling were used to estimate the force of infection.
Overall, 85.6% of serum samples were seropositive. Age-specific prevalence rose rapidly in preschool children and over 90% of 8 years old tested positive for VZV. However, 2.8% of serum samples among women of childbearing age were seronegative. Semiparametric modelling yielded force of infection estimates of 0.182 (95% CI 0.158-0.206), 0.367 (95% CI 0.285-0.448) and 0.008 (95% CI 0.0-0.032) for age groups 0.5- < 6, 6-11 and >or=12 years, respectively, and 0.175 (95% CI 0.147-0.202), 0.391 (95% CI 0.303-0.480) and 0.025 (95% CI 0.003-0.046) for age groups 0.5- < 5, 5-9 and >or=10 years, respectively.
Regardless of the age grouping used, the highest transmission occurred in children in their first years of school.
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