SUMMARYEuroRotaNet, a laboratory network, was established in order to determine the diversity of co-circulating rotavirus strains in Europe over three or more rotavirus seasons from 2006/2007 and currently includes 16 countries. This report highlights the tremendous diversity of rotavirus strains co-circulating in the European population during three years of surveillance since 2006/ 2007 and points to the possible origins of these strains including genetic reassortment and interspecies transmission. Furthermore, the ability of the network to identify strains circulating with an incidence of o1% allowed the identification of possible emerging strains such as G8 and G12 since the beginning of the study ; analysis of recent data indicates their increased incidence.
Aim To investigate intention rates to get vaccinated against COVID-19 among healthcare personnel (HCP) in Greece. Methods Cross-sectional survey. Results The response rate was 14.5%. Of 1,521 HCP with a known profession, 607 (39.9%) were nursing personnel, 480 (31.6%) physicians, 171 (11.2%) paramedical personnel, 72 (4.7%) supportive personnel, and 191 (12.6%) administrative personnel. Overall, 803 of 1,571 HCP (51.1%) stated their intention to get vaccinated while 768 (48.9%) stated their intention to decline vaccination. Most HCP (71.3%) who reported intent to get vaccinated noted contributing to the control of the pandemic and protecting their families and themselves as their reasons, while the most common reason for reporting intent to decline vaccination was inadequate information about the vaccines (74.9%), followed by concerns about vaccine safety (36.2%).Logistic regression analysis revealed that the probability of intending to get vaccinated increased with male gender, being a physician, history of complete vaccination against hepatitis B, history of vaccination against pandemic A (H1N1) in 2009-2010, belief that COVID-19 vaccination should be mandatory for HCP, and increased confidence in vaccines in general during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following factors were associated with a lower intention to get vaccinated: no vaccination against influenza the past season, no intention to get vaccinated against influenza in 2020-2021, and no intention to recommend COVID-19 vaccination to high-risk patients. Conclusions There is an urgent need to built safety perception towards COVID-19 vaccines and raise vaccine uptake rates by HCP, and thus to protect the healthcare workforce and the healthcare services.
Background Data regarding the association of antibody levels elicited after immunization with the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine with epidemiological and clinical parameters are limited. Methods We prospectively measured the total (TAbs-RBD) and the neutralizing antibodies (NAbs-RBD) against the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in a cohort of 268 Healthcare workers before immunization, 20 days after the 1 st dose and 30 days after the 2 nd dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine. A statistical analysis for possible association of antibodies’ levels with epidemiological and clinical parameters was performed. Results The mean age (±SD) of the participants was 45.45 years (± 11.93) (range: 24-70 years) and 211 (79.9%) were females. Statistically significant differences were detected regarding both TAbs-RBD and NAbs-RBD between the first and second doses of the vaccine (P<0.001). The median (IQR) percentage (%) of NAbs-RBD after the 1 st dose was 51.07% (31.60%) and after the 2 nd dose 95.31% (3.70%) (P<0.001).The correlation between the TAbs-RBD and NAbs-RBD was after the 1 st dose, Spearman’s, rho: 0.861 ( P <0.001) and after the 2 nd dose rho: 0.989 ( P <0.001). Twenty days after the 1 st dose, 56/264 (21.2%) of the participants did not have detectable NAbs-RBD, while one month after the 2 nd dose all of them had detectable NAbs-RBD. After the 2 nd vaccine dose, a statistically significant negative association of TAbs-RBD was detected for age (P<0.001), smoking ( P =0.011), and immunosuppressive medications (P<0.001), while a positive association was detected for BMI (P=0.004) and systemic adverse events after immunization (P=0.001). Conclusion A significant correlation of TAbs-RBD and NAbs-RBD was detected after both vaccine doses. Older age, smoking, and immunosuppressive medications negatively affected the final antibody level after SARS-CoV-2 immunization. Our findings emphasize the significance of the 2 nd vaccine dose especially in the older age groups.
Rotavirus is the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis among young children worldwide. A prospective multi‐center study was conducted (2007–2008) in five Pediatric Hospitals to determine the prevalence, the clinical characteristics, and genotype distribution of rotavirus infection in Greece. Faecal samples were examined for the presence of group A rotavirus antigen by immunochromatography. Rotavirus strains were subjected to G and P genotyping by reverse‐transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. A total of 393 children (216 boys) of median age 23 months, participated in the study. Rotavirus was the cause of acute gastroenteritis in 166 children, 42.3% (CI 95%, 37.4–47.1%) of non‐hospitalized and 47.8% (CI 95%, 41.7–53.9%) of hospitalized patients. Rotavirus gastroenteritis occurred between December and April in 78.6% of the cases. Most children with RVG (77.8%) were between 3 months and 3 years old. The mean value of Clark severity score was 12.9 ± 5.1 for RVG and 10.5 ± 4.9 for non‐RVG (P < 0.01). Genotypes were determined in 117 strains and their distribution was as following: G1P[8], 49%; G2P[4], 31%; G4P[8], 10%; G9P[8], 9%; and G8P[14], 1%. In conclusion, rotavirus is a frequent cause of acute gastroenteritis in Greece. The genotypes circulating are similar with those of other European countries. J. Med. Virol. 83:165–169, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
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