Measles in Czech population with varying vaccination rates in 2018-2019: clinical and laboratory differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals and their relevance to clinical practice.

Background And Objectives: In a highly vaccinated population, an increasing number of previously vaccinated measles cases can be expected. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of vaccination on the clinical course and immune response in relation to the current measles case definition.

Methods: The presence of fever, catarrhal symptoms, exanthema and complications, and specific IgM and IgG positivity were assessed in all 230 patients and compared in 193 patients with known vaccination status, divided into measles-containing vaccine (MCV) groups: MCV0 (85 patients), MCV1 (25 patients) and MCV2 (83 patients).

Measles outbreaks in 2017-2019 - molecular surveillance started in the Czech Republic.

Objective: Between 2017 and 2019, measles virus spread globally, causing a large measles epidemic that suddenly ended in 2020. Measles outbreaks also occurred in the Czech Republic (CR) as part of the global public health problem. In the recent alarming epidemiological situation, molecular surveillance is becoming increasingly important as it plays a vital role in the identification of imported cases and in the monitoring of virus transmission.

[Phylogenetic and molecular analysis of A/H1N1pdm influenza viruses isolated in the epidemic season 2012/2013 from hospitalised patients with -symptoms of influenza-like illness].

Aim: To perform phylogenetic and molecular analysis of A/H1N1pdm influenza viruses isolated in the epidemic season 2012/2013 from hospitalised patients with symptoms of influenza-like illness (ILI).

Material And Methods: The study set included 34 strains of the A/H1N1pdm influenza virus isolated in the Czech Republic in the epidemic season 2012/2013. The strains were analysed by partial or whole-genome sequencing.

[Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients hospitalized with severe influenza in the season 2012-2013].

Aim Of The Study: To characterize the clinical and epidemiological features of patients hospitalized with moderate to severe influenza infection at the infec-tious diseases department of a tertiary care hospital in the epidemic season 2012-2013.

Material And Methods: A prospective observational study of patients hospitalized with influenza infection in the season 2012-2013 was carried out at the Infectious Diseases Department, Na Bulovce Hospital in Prague. Influenza infection was diagnosed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in nasopharyngeal swab or tracheal aspirate specimens.

[Immune thrombocytopenia as a complication of acute infectious diseases - case reports].

Immune thrombocytopenia (immune thrombocytopenic purpura, ITP) is an acquired autoimmune disease, mediated by antibodies against platelet glycoproteins. ITP can develop in the context of other disorders (secondary ITP), including acute and chronic infections (HIV, H. pylori, HCV, HBV, CMV, EBV, VZV, parvovirus B19, rubella, etc.

DNA persistence after treatment of Lyme borreliosis.

One hundred twenty-four patients-53 with neuroborreliosis, 48 with erythema migrans, and 23 with Lyme arthritis-were tested in a prospective study for the presence of the DNA of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in plasma, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), urine, and synovial fluid by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Specific DNA was detected using five amplification systems simultaneously: three targeted chromosomal genes encoding 16S rDNA, flagellin, and p66; and two plasmid sequences of OspA and OspC. Patients were examined clinically and by PCR before and after treatment and again after 3 and 6 months.

Pneumococcal urinary antigen positivity in healthy colonized children: is it age dependent?

Background: Pneumococcal urinary antigen test is a valuable tool for diagnosing pneumococcal pneumonia and meningitis in adults. Its use in children is generally not accepted because of nonspecificity at this age. It is frequently positive in asymptomatic nasopharyngeal carriers.

Clinical and laboratory features of viral hepatitis A in children.

Recent outbreaks of viral hepatitis A in non-endemic European countries and the potential outbreak risk in susceptible populations has led us to evaluate the clinical characteristics of children hospitalised with hepatitis A. Retrospective study included 118 children (68 boys and 50 girls) with the mean age of 8.5 years hospitalised at Hospital Na Bulovce in Prague from June 2008 to June 2009.

[Scoring systems to evaluate prognosis of community-acquired pneumonias].

Several expert systems were developed for assessment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and its severity in individual patients. Scoring systems PSI, CURB-65, and CRB-65 are widely used. They were primarily designed for easier decision on need of CAP patients hospitalization.

[A case of fulminant meningococcal sepsis with an extreme inflammatory response].

Presented is a case of a 14-year-old-girl who succumbed to meningococcal infection within 9 hours after the first symptoms appeared and following 4-hour hospitalization. In the serum sample collected on admission, extremely high concentrations of interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-8, IL-10 and endotoxin were found. Although cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination excluded concurrent meningitis, CSF cytokine concentrations were rather high as well; by contrast, endotoxin was not detected in the CSF.