Cilgavimab and tixagevimab as pre-exposure prophylaxis in vaccine non-responder kidney transplant recipients during a period of prevalent SARS-CoV-2 BA.2 and BA.4/5 variants-a prospective cohort study (RESCUE-TX).

Background: The response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination is severely impaired in patients on maintenance immunosuppression after kidney transplantation.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of 194 kidney transplant recipients (KTR) who exhibited no response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations (i.e.

Effectiveness of the First and Second Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Vaccine Dose: A Nationwide Cohort Study From Austria on Hybrid Versus Natural Immunity.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccinations in previously SARS-CoV-2-infected adults in the general population of Austria during the Delta wave and with extended follow-up.

Methods: In a nationwide retrospective cohort study, we calculated age-, sex-, and nursing home residency-adjusted Cox proportional hazard ratios (HRs) of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths, SARS-CoV-2 infections, and non-COVID-19 deaths from 1 October to 31 December 2021, and secondarily with extended follow-up to 30 June 2022. Relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) is rVE = (1 - HR) × 100.

Estimated number of lives directly saved by COVID-19 vaccination programmes in the WHO European Region from December, 2020, to March, 2023: a retrospective surveillance study.

Background: By March, 2023, 54 countries, areas, and territories (hereafter CAT) in the WHO European Region had reported more than 2·2 million COVID-19-related deaths to the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Here, we estimated how many lives were directly saved by vaccinating adults in the WHO European Region from December, 2020, to March, 2023.

Methods: In this retrospective surveillance study, we estimated the number of lives directly saved by age group, vaccine dose, and circulating variant-of-concern (VOC) period, regionally and nationally, using weekly data on COVID-19 mortality and infection, COVID-19 vaccination uptake, and SARS-CoV-2 virus characterisations by lineage downloaded from The European Surveillance System on June 11, 2023, as well as vaccine effectiveness data from the literature.

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution by a centralised pipeline and weekly focused sequencing, Austria, January 2021 to March 2023.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic was largely driven by genetic mutations of SARS-CoV-2, leading in some instances to enhanced infectiousness of the virus or its capacity to evade the host immune system. To closely monitor SARS-CoV-2 evolution and resulting variants at genomic-level, an innovative pipeline termed SARSeq was developed in Austria.AimWe discuss technical aspects of the SARSeq pipeline, describe its performance and present noteworthy results it enabled during the pandemic in Austria.

Effectiveness of a fourth SARS-CoV-2 vaccine dose in previously infected individuals from Austria.

Introduction: Evidence is limited on the effectiveness of a fourth vaccine dose against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in populations with prior severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. We estimated the risk of COVID-19 deaths and SARS-CoV-2 infections according to vaccination status in previously infected individuals in Austria.

Methods: This is a nationwide retrospective observational study.

Performance of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification testing in Austria as measured by external quality assessment schemes during 3 years of the COVID-19 pandemic: an observational retrospective study.

Background: The aim of external quality assessment (EQA) schemes is to evaluate the analytical performance of laboratories and test systems in a near-to-real-life setting. This monitoring service provides feedback to participant laboratories and serves as a control measure for the epidemiological assessment of the regional incidence of a pathogen, particularly during epidemics. Using data from EQA schemes implemented as a result of the intensive effort to monitor SARS-CoV-2 infections in Austria, we aimed to identify factors that explained the variation in laboratory performance for SARS-CoV-2 detection over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Implementation of a Surveillance System for Severe Acute Respiratory Infections at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Austria: Protocol for a Retrospective Longitudinal Feasibility Study.

Background: The risk of a large number of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases emerging is a global concern. SARI can overwhelm the health care capacity and cause several deaths. Therefore, the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety will explore the feasibility of implementing an automatic electronically based SARI surveillance system at a tertiary care hospital in Austria as part of the hospital network, initiated by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Design of external quality assessment schemes and definition of the roles of their providers in future epidemics.

During an epidemic, individual test results form the basis of epidemiological indicators such as case numbers or incidence. Therefore, the accuracy of measures derived from these indicators depends on the reliability of individual results. In the COVID-19 pandemic, monitoring and evaluating the performance of the unprecedented number of testing facilities in operation, and novel testing systems in use, was urgently needed.

Diagnostic Study to Assess the Performance of a New Urinary Antigen Test-A National Study in Three Referral University Hospitals in Austria during 2014-2017.

Background: We evaluated the performance of a rapid diagnostic antigen test (Coris) as an index test versus the urinary Antigen ELISA (Bartels) as the reference test.

Methods: Prospective diagnostic accuracy study (2014-2017) at three university hospitals in Austria.

Results: A total of 996 patients were included in the study.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Initiation of Immunosuppressive Treatment in Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases in Austria: A Nationwide Retrospective Study.

Objective: Conventional immunosuppressive and advanced targeted therapies, including biological medications and small molecules, are a mainstay in the treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID). However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused concerns over these drugs’ safety regarding the risk and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Thus, we aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the initiation of these treatments in 2020.

Inadequate design of mutation detection panels prevents interpretation of variants of concern: results of an external quality assessment for SARS-CoV-2 variant detection.

Objectives: Mutation-specific PCR assays have quickly found their way into laboratory diagnostics due to their capacity to be a fast, easy to implement and high-throughput method for the detection of known SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VoCs). However, little is known about the performance of such assays in routine laboratory analysis.

Methods: The results reported in a recent round of an external quality assessment (EQA) scheme for SARS-CoV-2 mutation-specific PCR were retrospectively analyzed.

RT-PCR based SARS-CoV-2 variant screening assays require careful quality control.

Background: Distinctive genotypes of SARS-CoV-2 have emerged that are or may be associated with increased transmission, pathogenicity, and/or antibody escape. In many countries, clinical and diagnostic laboratories are under mandate to identify and report these so-called variants of concern (VOC).

Objectives: We used an external quality assessment scheme to determine the scope, accuracy, and reliability of laboratories using various molecular diagnostic assays to identify current VOC (03 March 2021).

The versatility of external quality assessment for the surveillance of laboratory and diagnostic performance: SARS-CoV-2 viral genome detection in Austria.

Objectives: External quality assessment (EQA) schemes provide information on individual and general analytical performance of participating laboratories and test systems. The aim of this study was to investigate the use and performance of SARS-CoV-2 virus genome detection systems in Austrian laboratories and their preparedness to face challenges associated with the pandemic.

Methods: Seven samples were selected to evaluate performance and estimate variability of reported results.