IntroductionEurope has been dealing with an increasing number of refugees during the past 5 years. The timing of screening and vaccination of refugees is debated by many professionals, however refugees’ perspectives on health issues are infrequently taken into account. In this study, we aimed to investigate asylum seekers’ perspectives on infectious diseases screening and vaccination policies.Materials and methodsInterviews were conducted in Greece and the Netherlands. Asylum seekers and recently arrived refugees were approached and informed with the help of interpreters; consent forms were acquired. The survey focused on demographic data, vaccination status, screening policies and prevention of infectious diseases.ResultsA total of 61 (43 male, 70.5%) refugees (30 Afghanis, 16 Syrian, 7 Erithrean) were interviewed. Mean age was 35.2 years (SD 13.5) and 50% had received primary or secondary education, while 24.6% received none. Median time after arrival in Greece and the Netherlands was 24 months (IQR 8.5–28). 44 out of 61 (72.1) participants were willing to be vaccinated after arrival in Europe, 26 preferred vaccination and screening to be performed at the point of entry. The need for screening and vaccination was perceived higher amongst participants in Greece (100% vs 43.3%) due to living conditions leading to increased risk of outbreaks.ConclusionParticipants were willing to communicate their perspectives and concerns. Screening and vaccination programs could be more effective when implemented shortly after arrival and by involving asylum seekers and refugees when developing screening and vaccination interventions.

Background: Neonatal therapeutic hypothermia (TH) can ameliorate or prevent the development of dyskinetic cerebral palsy (CP) after hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). The Dyskinesia Impairment Scale (DIS) was recently launched to quantify dyskinetic (dystonic and choreatic) motor features in patients with CP. In TH treated children, who are at risk of developing dyskinetic CP, we aimed to determine DIS-scores at pre-school age. Method: In 21 Dutch pre-school children (3e6 years of age) who had received TH according to the Dutch-Flemish treatment protocol, we determined DIS-scores. We associated DIS-scores with 1. agematched control values (Kuiper et al., 2018) [1], and 2. previously reported DIS-score range in dyskinetic CP (Monbaliu E et al., 2015). Results: The motor phenotype was determined as: normal (n ¼ 18/21), mildly impaired (reduced coordination (n ¼ 2/21)) and abnormal (dyskinetic CP; n ¼ 1/21). In absence of CP (n ¼ 20/21), DIS-scores were lower (more favorable) than in dyskinetic CP, without any overlapping group scores (mean difference: 71 points; p < .05). However, the obtained DIS-scores were still higher than previously reported in healthy age-matched controls (mean difference: 14 points; p < .05). There was an association between DIS-scores and retrospective neonatal MRI (basal ganglia and thalamus injury on diffusion weighted imaging (DWI)) and (a)EEG parameters (p < .05). Conclusion: In the vast majority (95%) of Dutch TH-HIE treated pre-school children, the phenotypic motor outcome was favorable. However, DIS-scores were moderately increased compared with healthy age-matched controls. Future studies may elucidate the significance of moderately increased DIS-scores should to further extent.