Education on the efficacy and safety of vaccines should be one of the priority public health measures taken to improve knowledge and eliminate misconceptions and attitudinal barriers regarding immunization in physicians and dentists.

BackgroundA cross-sectional, age-stratified study was conducted to determine varicella-zoster seroprevalence and force of infection in Slovenia.Methods3689 serum samples were tested for VZV IgG antibodies with an enzyme immunoassay. Semiparametric and parametric modelling were used to estimate the force of infection.ResultsOverall, 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 ≥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 ≥10 years, respectively.ConclusionsRegardless of the age grouping used, the highest transmission occurred in children in their first years of school.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of childhood acute respiratory infections and a major cause of hospital admissions in young children. 1 The public health importance of RSV is due, at least in low-income settings, to its high morbidity and mortality in young children. 2 The disease burden among the elderly population and people with chronic diseases like COPD is substantial as well and may be similar to that of seasonal influenza A virus infection in some seasons.

Monitoring sales of medications is a potential candidate for an early signal of a seasonal influenza epidemic. To test this theory, the data from a traditional, consultation-oriented influenza surveillance system were compared to medication sales and a predictive model was developed. Weekly influenza-like incidence rates from the National Influenza Sentinel Surveillance System were compared to sales of seven groups of medications (nasal decongestants, medicines for sore throat (MST), antitussives, mucolytics, analgo-antipyretics, non-steroidal anti-inflamatory drugs (NSAIDs), betalactam antibiotics, and macrolide antibiotics) to determine the correlation of medication sales with the sentinel surveillance system -and therefore their predictive power. Poisson regression and regression tree approaches were used in the statistical analyses. The fact that NSAIDs do not exhibit any seasonality and that prescription of antibiotics requires a visit to the doctor's office makes the two medication groups inappropriate for predictive purposes. The influenza-like illness (ILI) curve is the best matched by the mucolytics and antitussives sales curves. Distinct seasonality is also observed with MST and decongestants. The model including these four medication groups performed best in prediction of ILI incidence rate using the Poisson regression model. Sales of antitussives proved to be the best single predictive variable for regression tree model. Sales of medication groups included in the model were demonstrated to have a predictive potential for early detection of influenza season. The quantitative information on medication sales proves to be a useful supplementary system, complementing the traditional consultation-oriented surveillance system.

A patient with congestive cardiomyopathy, induced by ventricular tachycardia, is presented. The patient had chronic ventricular tachycardia, which persisted 4 months and was eventually successfully treated by an antitachycardia pacemaker. A severe left ventricular dysfunction persisted after treatment for some days and then gradually resolved. After 3 months the indices of left ventricular function returned to normal values. The tachycardia-induced ventricular dysfunction seems to be a reversible disorder.