Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Infection in a Two-Year-Old Child Returning from Switzerland (July-August 2023): Is It Time for TBE Immunization of Serbian Travelers?

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a vaccine-preventable viral infection that poses significant public health challenges, particularly in regions where tick-borne diseases are endemic. This case report describes a 2-year-old boy with confirmed abortive TBEV infection following a tick bite during travel to Switzerland. The patient developed fever and mild symptoms but did not exhibit central nervous system involvement.

Tick-borne diseases at the crossroads of the Middle East and central Europe.

Objectives: The Balkan Peninsula, acting as a crossroad between central Europe and the Middle East, presents diverse ecosystems supporting various tick species capable of transmitting TBDs. This study focuses on Serbia and North Macedonia, both endemic for TBDs, aiming to investigate human-biting ticks' prevalence, TBD prevalence, and major TBPs in blood samples.

Patients And Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted in 2022 at two medical centers, involving 45 patients from Novi Sad, Serbia, and 17 patients from Skopje, North Macedonia.

One health approach to study human health risks associated with mites.

Despite the significant health risks associated with infestations in humans, they are often overlooked. This study investigated a household case of infestation and explored the resulting clinical manifestations and risk of infection in family members. Microfluidic PCR was employed for high-throughput screening of pathogens in collected mites and blood samples from both chickens and family members.

Real-world evidence of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis in Serbia: Nation-wide observational study (2017-2019).

Background: Rabies remains a deadly zoonotic disease, primarily prevalent in Eastern European countries, with a significant global burden in Asia and Africa. Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is critical to prevent clinical rabies. Serbia, a country with a relatively low animal rabies incidence, has been implementing a 4-dose Essen PEP regimen for 13 years.

Evidence of tick-borne encephalitis virus neutralizing antibodies in Serbian individuals exposed to tick bites.

Introduction: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is an emerging vector-borne and food-borne disease caused by the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV; ), with a distribution spanning the Eurasian continent. Despite its significant public health impact in various European regions, TBE remains largely underdiagnosed in Serbia due to limited awareness and diagnostic challenges. In response to this, our study aimed to comprehensively assess TBEV exposure in individuals infested with ticks and to identify potential TBEV foci within Serbia.

Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus and Seroprevalence in Balkan Tick-Infested Individuals: A Two-Centre Study.

Lyme borreliosis (LB) and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) are important tick-borne diseases in Europe. This study aimed to investigate the seroreactivity against and TBE virus (TBEV) in tick-infested individuals in North Macedonia and Serbia. Serum samples were collected from tick-infested individuals and from healthy individuals in the same regions.

Fatal Case of Imported Tick-Borne Encephalitis in South Serbia.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is vaccine-preventable neglected zoonotic neuroinvasive disease, caused by tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). Many of the Central and Eastern European countries are affected by TBE, which is often poorly perceived by tourists visiting endemic territories. Here we are reporting a fatal case of imported TBE in Serbian resident who was exposed to a tick bite during a visit to Switzerland.

Differential detection of tick-borne pathogens in human platelets and whole blood using microfluidic PCR.

The tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) with adhesive phenotype can use platelets for dissemination and colonization of distant tissues and organs, and it has been shown that they can be found concentrated in the platelet fraction of blood. This study shows the differential presence of TBPs in samples of human platelet fraction (n = 68), whole blood samples (n = 68) and ticks collected (n = 76) from the same individuals, using an unbiased high-throughput pathogen detection microfluidic system. The clinical symptoms were characterized in enrolled patients.

QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH EPILEPSY - SINGLE CENTRE EXPERIENCE.

A prospective study was carried out at the Zagreb University Hospital Centre to evaluate the relationship between epilepsy, antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and quality of life (QoL) in patients with epilepsy (PE), and its association with depressive symptoms and sexual dysfunction (SD). QoL was assessed by use of the Quality of Life in Epilepsy-31 Inventory (QOLIE-31), SD by the Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale (ASEX), and depressive symptoms by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D17). The study included 108 PE (women 63% and men 37% men), mean age 39.

Unexpected TBEV Seropositivity in Serbian Patients Who Recovered from Viral Meningitis and Encephalitis.

The tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) causes a life-threatening disease named Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). The clinical symptoms associated with TBE range from non-specific to severe inflammation of the central nervous system and are very similar to the clinical presentation of other viral meningitis/encephalitis. In consequence, TBE is often misclassified by clinical physicians, mainly in the non-identified high-risk areas where none or only a few TBE cases have been reported.

Clinical Aspects and Detection of Emerging Rickettsial Pathogens: A "One Health" Approach Study in Serbia, 2020.

Ticks carry numerous pathogens that, if transmitted, can cause disease in susceptible humans and animals. The present study describes our approach on how to investigate clinical presentations following tick bites in humans. To this aim, the occurrence of major tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) in human blood samples ( = 85) and the ticks collected ( = 93) from the same individuals were tested using an unbiased high-throughput pathogen detection microfluidic system.

Predictors of Quality of Life in Patients with Drug Resistant Epilepsy after Neurosurgical Treatment: One-Year Follow-Up.

Background: Invasive neurosurgical treatment or minimally invasive neurosurgical treatment are methods of choice for the treatment of patients with drug resistant epilepsy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of neurosurgical treatment and the quality of life of patients with drug resistant epilepsy and to determine what are the potential predictors of quality of life of patients with drug resistant epilepsy one year after neurosurgical treatment.

Subjects And Methods: The research was performed at the Referral Centre for Epilepsy, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Centre Zagreb from February 2015 to February 2020 with Ethics commitee approval.

Demographic and Clinical Factors Associated with Reactivity of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Serbian Convalescent Plasma Donors.

Passive immunotherapy with convalescent COVID-19 plasma (CCP) is used as a therapeutic procedure in many countries, including Serbia. In this study, we analyzed the association between demographic factors, COVID-19 severity and the reactivity of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (Abs) in Serbian CCP donors. Individuals ( = 468) recovered from confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, and who were willing to donate their plasma for passive immunization of COVID-19 patients were enrolled in the study.

Depression and Quality of Life in Patients with Epilepsy - Single Centre Experience.

Background: Patients with epilepsy commonly report depressive symptoms. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between epilepsy, antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and depression. We also wanted to evaluate possible association between depressive symptofigms in patients with epilepsy with the quality of life (QoL).

A One Health approach to study the circulation of tick-borne pathogens: A preliminary study.

Tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) have complex life cycles involving tick vectors and vertebrate hosts. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the zoonotic circulation of TBPs. In this study, we used a One Health approach to study the possible circulation of TBPs in ticks, animals and humans within a rural household in the foothills of the Fruška Gora mountain, northern Serbia.

Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Seropositivity among Tick Infested Individuals in Serbia.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), caused by the TBE virus (TBEV), is a life-threatening disease with clinical symptoms ranging from non-specific to severe inflammation of the central nervous system. Despite TBE is a notifiable disease in Serbia since 2004, there is no active TBE surveillance program for the serologic or molecular screening of TBEV infection in humans in the country. This prospective cohort study aimed to assess the TBEV exposure among tick-infested individuals in Serbia during the year 2020.

Shared Odds of and Rabies Virus Exposure in Serbia.

Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common tick-borne disease in Serbia and other European countries. Rabies is a fatal zoonosis distributed worldwide and is caused by the rabies virus. Professionals at risk of rabies-including veterinarians, hunters, communal service workers, and forestry workers-overlap with some professions at a higher risk of exposure to tick bites and tick-borne pathogen infections.

Humans infested with Ixodes ricinus are exposed to a diverse array of tick-borne pathogens in Serbia.

Tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) pose a major threat to human health in Europe and the whole northern hemisphere. Despite a high prevalence of TBPs in Ixodes ricinus ticks, knowledge on the incidence of tick-borne diseases in humans infested by this tick species is limited. This study was conducted in the year 2019 on patients who presented themselves to the Pasteur Institute Novi Sad with tick infestations.

Impact of Invasive EEG Monitoring and Resective Neurosurgical Treatment on the Quality of Life in Patients with Drug Resistant Epilepsy - Preliminary Results.

Background: Neurosurgical treatment is one of important way to cure drug resistant epilepsy. After invasive EEG monitoring and the invasive neurosurgical treatment (resective surgery) there are possible complications (intracranial haemorrhage, cortical lesions and infections), however there are possible neuropsyhologic outcomes such as memory outcomes, language outcomes and psychiatric outcomes. The quality of life in epilepsy (QOLIE-31) scale is a self-completed questionnaire which contains seven subscales which address the following aspects: emotional well-being, social functioning, energy/fatigue, cognitive functioning, seizure worry, medication effects and overall quality of life.

Effects of various factors on sleep disorders and quality of life in Parkinson's disease.

In Parkinson's disease (PD), sleep disorders (SD) occur as a result of the neurochemical changes in sleep centres, neurodegenerative changes in dopaminergic neurons, and other factors. The most common SD include excessive daytime sleepiness, insomnia, restless legs syndrome and nocturia. The aim of the study was to compare quality of sleep, as a factor that greatly impacts quality of life (QoL), between PD patients and a control group and to further examine SD in the PD group with focus on incidence and SD types as well as on effects various factors (age, sex, PD characteristics, medication usage) have on these disorders.

Coexistence of left internal carotid agenesis, klippel-feil syndrome and postaxial polydactyly.

Background: Internal carotid artery agenesis is a rare anomaly that can be clinically asymptomatic. Klippel-Feil syndrome is a skeletal malformation characterized by vertebral fusion. Presence of postaxial polydactyly is suggestive of an underlying syndrome.

Micromachined Fabry-Pérot interferometer with embedded nanochannels for nanoscale fluid dynamics.

We describe a microfabricated Fabry-Pérot interferometer with nanochannels of various heights between 6 and 20 nm embedded in its cavity. By multiple beam interferometry, the device enables the study of liquid behavior in the nanochannels without using fluorescent substances. During filling studies of ethanol and water, an intriguing filling mode for partially wetting water was observed, tentatively attributed to the entrapment of a large amount of gas inside the channels.