Vaccine Safety and Immunogenicity in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis Treated With Natalizumab.

Importance: Vaccination in patients with highly active multiple sclerosis (MS) requiring prompt treatment initiation may result in impaired vaccine responses and/or treatment delay.

Objective: To assess the immunogenicity and safety of inactivated vaccines administered during natalizumab treatment.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This self-controlled, prospective cohort study followed adult patients with MS from 1 study center in Spain from September 2016 to February 2022.

Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness against Hospitalization, Season 2021/22: A Test-Negative Design Study in Barcelona.

Background: Vaccination is considered the most effective measure for preventing influenza and its complications. The influenza vaccine effectiveness (IVE) varies annually due to the evolution of influenza viruses and the update of vaccine composition. Assessing the IVE is crucial to facilitate decision making in public health policies.

Suspected case of monkeypox reinfection versus reactivation in a immunocompetent patient, Barcelona, 2022.

Vaccines against smallpox are known to have cross-protective activity against monkeypox, and smallpox and monkeypox infections are believed to generate permanent immunity. Nevertheless, there are scarce data about the possibility of reinfection or reactivation. Recently, a case of apparent monkeypox reinfection has been reported.

Reactogenicity to the mRNA-1273 Booster According to Previous mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination.

The objective of this study was to assess the local and systemic adverse reactions after the administration of a COVID-19 mRNA-1273 booster between December 2021 and February 2022 by comparing the type of mRNA vaccine used as primary series (mRNA-1273 or BNT162b2) and homologous versus heterologous booster in health care workers (HCW). A cross-sectional study was performed in HCW at a tertiary hospital in Barcelona, Spain. A total of 17% of booster recipients responded to the questionnaire.

Nosocomial COVID-19. Prospective study in a referral hospital.

Background And Objective: The objective was to describe the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Methods: An observational and prospective study was performed in a referral hospital. We included all adult patients diagnosed with nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 infection in October 2020.

Missed opportunities for vaccination (MOV) in children up to 5 years old in 19 Médecins Sans Frontières-supported health facilities: a cross-sectional survey in six low-resource countries.

Objective: To describe missed opportunities for vaccination (MOV) among children visiting Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)-supported facilities, their related factors, and to identify reasons for non-vaccination.

Design: Cross-sectional surveys conducted between 2011 and 2015.

Setting And Participants: Children up to 59 months of age visiting 19 MSF-supported facilities (15 primary healthcare centres and four hospitals) in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritania, Niger, Pakistan and South Sudan.

Characteristics of 24 SARS-CoV-2-Sequenced Reinfection Cases in a Tertiary Hospital in Spain.

Background: Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the main concern is whether reinfections are possible, and which are the associated risk factors. This study aims to describe the clinical and molecular characteristics of 24 sequence-confirmed reinfection SARS-CoV-2 cases over 1 year in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain).

Methods: Patients with > 45 days between two positive PCR tests regardless of symptoms and negative tests between episodes were initially considered as suspected reinfection cases from November 2020 to May 2021.

Local and Systemic Adverse Reactions to mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines Comparing Two Vaccine Types and Occurrence of Previous COVID-19 Infection.

The aim of this study was to assess adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines, comparing the BNT162b2 or the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccines and the presence and seriousness of a previous COVID-19 infection. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of vaccinated healthcare workers at a tertiary hospital in Barcelona (Spain). Thirty-eight percent of vaccine recipients responded to the questionnaire.

A year living with SARS-CoV-2: an epidemiological overview of viral lineage circulation by whole-genome sequencing in Barcelona city (Catalonia, Spain).

Herein, we describe the genetic diversity of circulating SARS-CoV-2 viruses by whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in Barcelona city (Catalonia, Spain) throughout the first four pandemic waves. From weeks 11/2020-24/2021, SARS-CoV-2-positive respiratory samples were randomly selected per clinical setting (80% from primary care or 20% from the hospital), age group, and week. WGS was performed following the ARTICv3 protocol on MiSeq or NextSeq2000 Illumina platforms.

Nosocomial COVID-19. Prospective study in a referral hospital.

Background And Objective: The objective was to describe the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Methods: An observational and prospective study was performed in a referral hospital. We included all adult patients diagnosed with nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 infection in October 2020.

Epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 cases: mortality inequalities by socio-economic status, Barcelona, Spain, 24 February to 4 May 2020.

BackgroundPopulation-based studies characterising outcomes of COVID-19 in European settings are limited, and effects of socio-economic status (SES) on outcomes have not been widely investigated. AimWe describe the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 cases, highlighting incidence and mortality rate differences across SES during the first wave in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.MethodsThis population-based study reports individual-level data of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases diagnosed from 24 February to 4 May 2020, notified to the Public Health Agency of Barcelona and followed until 15 June 2020.

["Heparjoc-Actúa": educational tool created through a process of participatory action research with vulnerable immigrant groups to improve accessibility to diagnosis of hepatitis B.].

Objective: The World Health Organization estimates that 257 million people suffer from chronic infection by the hepatitis B (HB) virus. It is common for diagnosis to be delayed or never given at all. In Spain, immigrants that come from endemic areas present a prevalence of infection of around 8%.

Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Nursing Homes, Barcelona, Spain, April 2020.

During the coronavirus disease pandemic in Spain, from April 10-24, 2020, a total of 5,869 persons were screened for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 at nursing homes. Among residents, 768 (23.9%) tested positive; among staff, 403 (15.

Infections with Mycobacterium chimaera and open chest surgery. An unresolved problem.

Mycobacterium chimaera (M. chimaera) is a non-tuberculous mycobacterium of the Mycobacterium avium complex. Between 2013 and April 2018, more than 140 cases of severe infection have been identified, all of them in patients who had undergone cardiothoracic surgery with extracorporeal circulation.

The dipeptide monoester prodrugs of floxuridine and gemcitabine-feasibility of orally administrable nucleoside analogs.

Dipeptide monoester prodrugs of floxuridine and gemcitabine were synthesized. Their chemical stability in buffers, enzymatic stability in cell homogenates, permeability in mouse intestinal membrane along with drug concentration in mouse plasma, and anti-proliferative activity in cancer cells were determined and compared to their parent drugs. Floxuridine prodrug was more enzymatically stable than floxuridine and the degradation from prodrug to parent drug works as the rate-limiting step.