Secondary attack rate of COVID-19 in shared households in Slovakia.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to estimate the secondary attack rate in unvaccinated members of households of two regions in the Slovak Republic for the period November 2020 ‒ April 2021. INTRODUCTION: SARS-CoV-2 infection poses a high risk of transmission in close-contact indoor settings, such as households. The household transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 varies widely across countries. METHODS: We included 278 households for SARS-CoV-2 transmission analysis. We calculated the secondary attack rate (SAR). We assessed sex, level of disease severity and means of isolation during infection of index cases as determinants of disease transmissibilityRESULTS: The secondary attack rate in 278 households was estimated at 63.7% (95%CI: 58.2‒66.7%). The SARs were different by sex (60.2% in females, 67.5% in males). The highest SAR was observed in the households of asymptomatic cases (77.8%), followed by moderate severity (66.5%), hospital admissions (63.2%) and mild disease (58.2%). CONCLUSION: We found a high household secondary attack rate in two regions of Slovakia in the period when Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) of SARS-CoV-2 was dominant in the country. The results highlight the importance of monitoring transmission dynamics (Tab. 1, Fig. 1, Ref. 12). Text in PDF www.elis.sk Keywords: COVID-19, secondary attack rate, Slovak Republic, households.

Nasopharyngeal bacterial colonisation in HIV-positive children in Cambodia.

OBJECTIVE: To determine patterns of nasopharyngeal colonisation in HIV-positive children. METHODS: Nasopharyngeal, nasal and ear swabs were prospectively taken from all children living in two paediatric nursing homes for HIV-positive orphans in Cambodia from 2004 to 2011. RESULTS: A total of 882 swabs were taken, of which 586 tested positive for bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequently isolated species (178 isolates; 30.4%) followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (103 isolates; 17.6%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (99 isolates; 16.9%). The rate of S. pneumoniae decreased in 2009 when a vaccination programme was introduced. CONCLUSIONS: The respiratory tract of HIV-positive children receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy is commonly colonised by S. aureus and S. pneumoniae, while other species normally found in the respiratory tract, such as Moraxella catarrhalis, are far less frequent.

Neurologic complications and sequellae of infectious diseases in Uganda and Kenya: Analysis of 288 cases from two rural hospitals.

OBJECTIVE: Many infections occurring in area of Sub-Saharan Africa are associated with more or less serious neurologic symptoms or complications. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of selected infectious diseases in the equatorial part of Uganda and Kenya and to monitor potential neurological complications of these infections. METHODS: The study was performed for May - August 2008. Patients suffering from cerebral malaria, AIDS, meningitis, typhoid, tuberculosis (TB), syphilis, leprosy, and trypanosomiasis patients were enrolled. Besides of standard examination, lumbar puncture (LP) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination was performed, and the occurrence of neurological disorders and sequellae was recorded and assessed. RESULTS: Altogether 288 patients with neurological manifestation were enrolled. Malaria was the most prevalent disease in this study (102 cases, 35.42%), followed by typhoid (47 cases, 16.2%) and meningitis (38 cases, 13.2%). Leprosy and trypanosomiasis were only rarely detected (2.3% and 1.4%, respectively). CONCLUSION: In malaria and HIV hyper-endemic area of rural Uganda, cerebral malaria is the leading tropical neuroinfection. Also, meningitis is still frequent probably due to insufficient access to vaccination.

Tropical neuroinfections in south sudanese rural hospitals - analysis of 8,709 patients.

OBJECTIVE: Infections involving the central nervous system have very serious consequences and affect thousands of people in Africa. Despite the availability of new antibiotics and vaccines, neuroinfections act as dangerous and life-threatening conditions. The most frequent neuroinfections which are of the greatest importance for public health systems are viral diseases (such as HIV, encephalitis, poliomyelitis, rabies), bacterial diseases (bacterial meningitis, neurological complications of leprosy and tuberculosis) and parasitic infections (cerebral malaria, sleeping sickness, trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis, toxoplasmosis etc.). METHODS: A descriptive study to assess the occurrence of neuroinfections in two rural hospitals in Sudan (Mapuordit in Yirol and Gordim in Aweil) was performed in two periods of two years: (i) 2005-2006 and (ii) 2010-2011. We obtained data on patients from Mapuordit and from Gordim by studying their medical records. RESULTS: Several cases of neuroinfections were observed during both periods; those were represented by tetanus, meningococcal meningitis, leprosy with neuropathy (altogether 442 patients) in Mapuordit. Also in Gordim, severe neuroinfections such as cerebral malaria were very rare (1 case), as well as tetanus (1 case), meningococcal meningitis (8 cases) and sleeping sickness (9 cases). However, the incidence of neuroinfections decreased from 44/1000 in 2005-2006 to 2/1000 in 2010-2011. CONCLUSIONS: Decreased incidence of serious neuroinfections (cerebral malaria, sleeping sickness, meningococcal meningitis) in Sudan may be related to improvement of effective therapeutic options, represented by (i) intermittent preventive therapy (IPT) for malaria, (ii) by suppression of sleeping sickness vectors and (iii) by better accessibility of antibiotics.

First report of New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase-1-producing strains in Slovakia.

Occurrence of carbapenemase-producing organisms, including New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) is increasingly reported worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the distribution of carbapenemase producers among multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria isolated from blood cultures. All carbapenem-resistant strains collected from December 2011 to December 2012 were analyzed. Presence of carbapenemases was assessed with combined disc test and Carba NP test followed by polymerase chain reaction for carbapenemase genes. Altogether, 30 strains were detected, of which 7 were positive for VIM (23.3%), 6 for NDM-1 (20%), 5 for IMP (16.7%), and KPC was present in one isolate (3.3%). Four Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains were found to produce more than one carbapenemase. We also present the case report of a patient with Acinetobacter baumannii ventilator-associated pneumonia, followed by sepsis due to Enterococcus faecalis and pan-resistant NDM-1-producing P. aeruginosa. Despite the inappropriate therapy, the patient was successfully treated. This is the first report of NDM-1-producing strains in Slovakia and it contributes to a number of studies mapping the distribution of carbapenemase producers in Europe.