Acceptance of Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Among Slovenian Physicians, 2016.

Introduction: Vaccination against seasonal influenza is recommended for all healthcare workers including physicians in Slovenia to protect vulnerable individuals and reduce transmission of influenza viruses. The aim of our study is to determine the uptake of seasonal influenza vaccination among Slovenian physicians, to identify factors associated with that vaccination and assess their attitudes and beliefs regarding vaccination and vaccine-preventable diseases.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed among physician members of the Slovenian Medical Chamber.

Analysis of 22 Years of Surveillance for Prion Diseases in Slovenia, 1996 to 2017.

Introduction: The objective was to present the results of surveillance of prion diseases in Slovenia that was established in 1996 and then to assess the interdisciplinary approach according to the algorithm of case management and reporting data to the National Register at the National Institute of Public Health.

Methods: A descriptive study of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) recorded in the period from 1996 to 2017 was carried out.

Results: A total of 123 cases of prion disease were notified between 1996 and 2017.

Vaccine confidence among mothers of young children, Slovenia, 2016.

Objectives: We conducted the first nationwide survey in Slovenia to measure and characterise vaccine confidence among mothers of young children. This survey measured confidence in routine vaccines for children <2 years of age and in the information sources about these vaccinations to provide baseline data for public health actions to maintain and improve vaccination coverage.

Methods: We randomly selected women giving birth in 2014-15 from the national perinatal information system (N = 39,497).

The growing vaccine hesitancy: exploring the influence of the internet.

Background: Vaccination coverage is dropping in several countries, including Slovenia. More and more people hesitate or even reject vaccinations. As the influence of the internet grows, the question becomes how to communicate about vaccination to parents in order to prevent this drop in vaccination coverage among children.

Estimating the annual burden of tick-borne encephalitis to inform vaccination policy, Slovenia, 2009 to 2013.

With an annual incidence between 8 and 15 per 100,000 population in the period from 2009 to 2013, Slovenia has one of the highest notified incidences of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in Europe. TBE vaccination coverage remains at about 7.3%.

Adverse events following school-based vaccination of girls with quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine in Slovenia, 2009 to 2013.

Adverse events following immunisation (AEFIs) with qHPV reported to the Slovenian AEFI Registry for the first four school years of the vaccination programme were analysed. We calculated annual reporting rates for 11-14 year-old vaccinees with AEFIs, using the number of qHPV doses distributed within the school-based vaccination programme as the denominator. Between September 2009 and August 2013, 211 AEFIs that occurred in 89 vaccinees were reported, a rate of 149.

A Five Site Clostridium Perfringens Food-Borne Outbreak: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Introduction: In May of 2012, we investigated a food-borne Clostridium perfringens outbreak in Slovenia involving a single kitchen and five venues, with 477 exposed persons.

Methods: In order to identify the causative agent, vehicle of infection and source of contamination, we conducted microbiological and environmental investigations and an analytical cohort study (n = 138).

Results: The case definition in the outbreak was met by 104 persons.

Tick-borne encephalitis associated with consumption of raw goat milk, Slovenia, 2012.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) developed in 3 persons in Slovenia who drank raw milk; a fourth person, who had been vaccinated against TBE, remained healthy. TBE virus RNA was detected in serum and milk of the source goat. Persons in TBE-endemic areas should be encouraged to drink only boiled/pasteurized milk and to be vaccinated.

Surveillance of adverse events following immunization against pandemic influenza in Slovenia in season 2009/10.

The results of Slovenian surveillance system of AEFI which was in place for the early detection and investigation of rare adverse events were analysed. The reports about AEFI obtained from physicians, and self-assessment questionnaires from vaccinated persons showed predominantly non-serious and expected side effects. Nine reports (3%) included serious AEFI.

Analysis of Slovenian MRSA strains with susceptibility patterns suggestive of CA-MRSA.

Background: Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) differs from healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) in its molecular and microbiological characteristics.

Materials And Methods: Six Slovenian regional public health institutes and the National Institute of Public Health took part in monitoring CA-MRSA infections. S.

Re-emergence of pertussis in Slovenia: time to change immunization policy.

The introduction of childhood vaccination has dramatically reduced morbidity and mortality of pertussis in Slovenia. However, despite high vaccination coverage for many decades, reported incidence has increased recently, to the highest incidence of 27.5/100,000 in 2006, a 6.

Vaccination coverage in hard to reach Roma children in Slovenia.

The results of the retrospective analysis of data on vaccination coverage in the preschool-aged and school-aged Roma children (436 preschool and 551 schoolchildren) in three geographical regions of Slovenia were analyzed to establish the differences concerning coverage for specific vaccinations: poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella between the two generation. The data were obtained from health records, immunization records (Vaccination booklet) and National Computerized Immunization System (CEPI 2000). Vaccination coverage was calculated by comparing the number of children eligible for immunization with the number of vaccinated children.

Tick-borne encephalitis in children in Styria and Slovenia between 1980 and 2003.

Background: To describe the effect of the Austrian vaccination program against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) on the incidence of this disease in children from Styria, an Austrian federal state, and to compare it with that in Slovenia, the neighboring country with a risk to acquire TBE similar to that of Styria.

Methods: A retrospective population-based cohort study was performed with the use of discharge data from all Styrian pediatric hospitals and data from the Center for Communicable Diseases at the National Institute of Public Health in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Results: From January 1980 to December 2003, 139 cases of TBE in children younger than 16 years were observed in Styria.

Tick-borne encephalitis in childhood--consensus 2004.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a communicable disease caused by a flavi-virus, ticks being the main vectors. The nervous system is affected, four clinical features of different severity are observed: meningitis, meningoencephalitis, meningoencephalomyelitis, meningoradiculoneuritis. TBE is a preventable disease, which is rapidly becoming a growing public health problem in Europe.

Possibility of application of new pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in children in Slovenia.

The emergence of pneumococcal strains resistant to penicillin caused a lot of problems in the therapy of invasive diseases, and added new dimensions to the role of immunisation. In addition to the currently available 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) and a new 7-valent conjugate vaccine (PCV) (Prevnar, Wyeth Lederle), two new conjugate vaccines-a 9- and a 11-valent-are being developed. So far, the choice of most appropriate vaccines has depended on the established prevalence of serotypes causing invasive diseases and their antibiotic resistance in the Slovene children population.

Eighty years of the Slovenian Institute of Public Health: challenges for the future.

Eighty years after the first national public health institution was founded in Slovenia, the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia (IPHRS) endeavors to meet ever-growing national demands. With the independence of Slovenia in 1991, new tasks had to be tackled, many of which were initially coupled with typical difficulties of a postcommunist country in transition. Also, increasing demands of the European Union (EU) and other international partners had to be met.