Prevalence of HPV Genotypes among Greek Women in Association with Their Potential to Cause Precancerous Lesions.

The escalating global rates of precancerous lesions associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) types not targeted by current vaccines underscore the need to explore the prevalence of HPV types within the Greek female population and their involvement in precancerous lesion development. In the current study, we enrolled a cohort of 253 women aged 18 to 65 years, residing in Greece, who underwent routine screening in three tertiary care referral hospitals. Each participant completed a demographic questionnaire. An HPV DNA test was administered using the VisionArray® HPV kit (ZytoVision GmbH) to qualitatively detect and genotype 41 clinically relevant HPV genotypes. Of all 253 women examined, 114 (45.1%) tested positive for HPV DNA. The primary type detected was HPV51 (high-risk), present in 21 women (8.3% of the total), followed by HPV54 (low-risk) in 17 women (6.7%); HPV16 (high-risk) ranked third, identified in 14 women (5.5%). Among the HPV-positive women, 65 were positive for high-risk HPV types (57% of HPV-positive women) and were referred for colposcopy and cervical biopsy. These procedures identified 24 women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 (CIN1) lesions and 2 with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 (CIN2) lesions. The most prevalent HPV type among women with CIN1 lesions was HPV16, found in nine (37.5%) women, while HPV51 ranked second, identified in six (25%) women. Both women with CIN2 lesions tested positive for HPV16, whereas one of them was also tested positive for HPV45. Our study is the first to report the prevalence of HPV51 among HPV-positive women in the Greek female population. This highlights the need for further research to fully understand the potential of HPV types not covered by current vaccines, such as HPV51, to cause high-grade lesions or cervical cancer.

A main event and multiple introductions of SARS-CoV-2 initiated the COVID-19 epidemic in Greece.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel coronavirus responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Chains of infections starting from various countries worldwide seeded the outbreak of COVID-19 in Athens, capital city of Greece. A full-genome analysis of isolates from Athens' hospitals and other healthcare providers revealed the variety of SARS-CoV-2 that initiated the pandemic before lockdown and passenger flight restrictions. A dominant variant, encompassing the G614D amino acid substitution, spread through a major virus dispersal event, and sporadic introductions of rare variants characterized the local initiation of the epidemic. Mutations within the genome highlighted the genetic drift of the virus as rare variants emerged. An important variant contained a premature stop codon in orf7a leading to the truncation of a possibly important for viral pathogenesis domain. This study may serve as a reference for resolving future lines of infection in the area, especially after resumption of passenger flight connections to Athens and Greece during summer of 2020.

Immune response to influenza vaccination in children with cancer.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of influenza immunization to evoke a protective immune response among children with cancer. We evaluated 75 children with cancer who received influenza vaccination. Hemagglutination Inhibition Antibody titers were determined before and after vaccination. The protective rates after vaccination were 79% for H1N1, 75% for H3N2 and 59% for influenza B virus whereas the seroconversion rates were 54%, 44% and 43% respectively. The differences pre- and post-vaccination were significant regardless the method which was used: seroprotection changes, seroconversion and geometric mean titers analyses. Variables such as the pre-vaccination antibody titers, the time when the responses were measured after the vaccination, the age and the type of malignancy as well as the absolute lymphocyte count were found to be correlated with the immune response but the findings were different for each vaccine subunit. In conclusion, influenza vaccination provides protection in a remarkable proportion of pediatric cancer patients whereas this protection is more obvious against H1N1 and H3N2 compared to influenza B. The immune response after vaccination is significant and seems to be influenced by a variety of factors.