Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Key Mutations in Vienna Detected by Large Scale Screening Program

Thannesberger, Jakob; Edermayr, Anna; Karimi, Alireza; Mueller, Mathias; Karnthaler, Ursula; Gauss, Richard; Penz, Daniela; Ferlitsch, Arnulf; Steininger, Christoph

doi:10.3390/v13102014

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Fourth, we did not determine the SARS-CoV-2 variants in the respiratory specimens tested in the ID laboratory. However, we have deduced from nationwide surveillance programs that the WT strain was the predominant variant until February 2021 [ 59 , 60 ]. In March 2021, the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) became the most prevalent circulating virus until June 2021.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single-Center Experience in Detecting Influenza Virus, RSV and SARS-CoV-2 at the Emergency Department

Nairz

Todorovic

Gehrer

et al. 2023

Viruses

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on respiratory tract swabs has become the gold standard for sensitive and specific detection of influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this retrospective analysis, we report on the successive implementation and routine use of multiplex RT-PCR testing for patients admitted to the Internal Medicine Emergency Department (ED) at a tertiary care center in Western Austria, one of the hotspots in the early coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Europe. Our description focuses on the use of the Cepheid® Xpert® Xpress closed RT-PCR system in point-of-care testing (POCT). Our indications for RT-PCR testing changed during the observation period: From the cold season 2016/2017 until the cold season 2019/2020, we used RT-PCR to diagnose influenza or RSV infection in patients with fever and/or respiratory symptoms. Starting in March 2020, we used the RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 and a multiplex version for the combined detection of all these three respiratory viruses to also screen subjects who did not present with symptoms of infection but needed in-hospital medical treatment for other reasons. Expectedly, the switch to a more liberal RT-PCR test strategy resulted in a substantial increase in the number of tests. Nevertheless, we observed an immediate decline in influenza virus and RSV detections in early 2020 that coincided with public SARS-CoV-2 containment measures. In contrast, the extensive use of the combined RT-PCR test enabled us to monitor the re-emergence of influenza and RSV detections, including asymptomatic cases, at the end of 2022 when COVID-19 containment measures were no longer in place. Our analysis of PCR results for respiratory viruses from a real-life setting at an ED provides valuable information on the epidemiology of those infections over several years, their contribution to morbidity and need for hospital admission, the risk for nosocomial introduction of such infection into hospitals from asymptomatic carriers, and guidance as to how general precautions and prophylactic strategies affect the dynamics of those infections.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single-Center Experience in Detecting Influenza Virus, RSV and SARS-CoV-2 at the Emergency Department

Nairz

Todorovic

Gehrer

et al. 2023

Viruses

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While the vaccination curve flattened, Austria witnessed a dramatical surge of cases due to the rapid spread of delta variant in the autumn of 2021. Incidence peaked at a rate of 1098.69 per 100,000 inhabitants, putting Austria at the top of the global incidence list [ 8 , 9 ]. In November 2021, the government decided to employ a lock down for unvaccinated individuals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tackling Vaccine Hesitancy and Increasing Vaccine Willingness Among Parents of Unvaccinated Children in Austria

Lenart,

Prager,

Sachs

et al. 2023

Int J Public Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: In autumn 2021, there was a surge of COVID-19 infections in Austria, and vaccination coverage stagnated at a below-average level compared to the rest of Europe. Surveys showed that both children and adolescents were the main drivers of the rising infection rates and that vaccination numbers were particularly low in this age group. This was due to widespread vaccination skepticism and hesitancy among parents of unvaccinated children and adolescents.Methods: Here, we describe a novel intervention concept that allowed us to efficiently tackle parental vaccine hesitancy. We designed an intervention series that followed a reproducible format based on online face-to-face seminars in groups of a maximum of twenty people. Each seminar included an anonymous online questionnaire for internal quality control. Moreover, we assessed the motives of parental vaccine hesitancy and asked participants to rate subjective vaccine willingness for their children on a scale of zero to ten.Results: Within 8 weeks, more than 580 people participated in the seminar series. We found that concerns about the side effects of the vaccine were the predominant motive of vaccination hesitancy among the study population. Overall, the intervention could successfully increase the median parental vaccination willingness of participants from a score of five to eight. We identified tree hesitancy motives (distrust towards the pharmaceutical industry, the government, or feelings of restriction from personal freedom) that were associated with below-average vaccination willingness and significant lower increase.Conclusion: With this study we analyzed motives driving COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy among parents of unvaccinated children and reasons of parents to restrain their children from getting vaccinated. The intervention method described here, could effectively address individual concerns on a personal level while at the same time reach a large number of people across geographical and language barriers. Thereby we could significantly increase subjective vaccination willingness of the participants. Our approach is easy to apply, highly cost-effective, and can be used to tackle any kind of medical misinformation.

show abstract

“…The global pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has last lasted two and a half years and the SARS-CoV-2 continued to spread over the world [22] , [48] , [57] . To date, no drugs specifically for COVID-19 have been approved, therefore, effective disinfection and protective methods to prevent the transmission and infection of SARS-CoV-2 are still the main strategies [16] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient inactivation of the contamination with pathogenic microorganisms by a combination of water spray and plasma-activated air

Guo

Zhao

Jia

et al. 2023

Journal of Hazardous Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Key Mutations in Vienna Detected by Large Scale Screening Program

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

Single-Center Experience in Detecting Influenza Virus, RSV and SARS-CoV-2 at the Emergency Department

Single-Center Experience in Detecting Influenza Virus, RSV and SARS-CoV-2 at the Emergency Department

Tackling Vaccine Hesitancy and Increasing Vaccine Willingness Among Parents of Unvaccinated Children in Austria

Efficient inactivation of the contamination with pathogenic microorganisms by a combination of water spray and plasma-activated air

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About