T ick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a severe viral zoonosis caused by TBE virus (TBEV) (1). To date, confi rmed locally acquired human TBEV infections have not been reported in Belgium, although the most common vector, the tick Ixodes ricinus, is abundant in Belgium and seroprevalence studies have revealed the presence of TBEV antibodies in dogs, cattle, roe deer, and wild boar (2,3). We report 3 confi rmed autochthonous TBE cases, diagnosed at the National Reference Centre (NRC) for Arboviruses (Antwerp, Belgium) during summer 2020. The StudyA 48-year-old woman had muscle pain and an elevated body temperature 2 weeks after a tick bite on her right hip. She tested negative for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and her general practitioner prescribed antimicrobial drugs. A few days later, the patient was hospitalized with asthenia, tremor, drowsiness, and fever. A neurologist determined signs of peripheral facial palsy with brachial weakness and nuchal rigidity. Cerebrospinal fl uid (CSF) showed an elevated leukocyte count (37 cells/µL; reference range 0-5 cells/µL). Borrelia serology and PCR results were negative. Magnetic resonance imaging

No abstract

No abstract

This case report describes a 60-year-old female patient suffering from systemic sclerosis, for which she received immunomodulatory drugs. Her first SARS-CoV-2-positive nasopharyngeal sample was obtained in the emergency department, on 31 January 2022. Whole genome sequencing confirmed infection with Omicron BA.1.1. Her hospital stay was long and punctuated by many complications, including admission to the intensive care unit. At the beginning of April 2022, she started complaining of increased coughing, for which another SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR test was performed. The latter nasopharyngeal swab showed a strongly positive result. To support the theory of healthcare-associated reinfection, whole genome sequencing was performed and confirmed reinfection with Omicron BA.2. Since this patient was one of ten positive cases in this particular ward, a hospital outbreak investigation was performed. Whole genome sequencing data were available for five of these ten patients and showed a cluster of four patients with ≤2 small nucleotide polymorphisms difference.

No abstract

No abstract