Interplay between HIV and Human Pegivirus (HPgV) Load in Co-Infected Patients: Insights from Prevalence and Genotype Analysis.

Human pegivirus (HPgV) is transmitted through sexual or parenteral exposure and is common among patients receiving blood products. HPgV is associated with lower levels of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) RNA and better survival among HIV-infected patients. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of HPgV and determine its subtypes in HIV-infected individuals living in Istanbul, which has the highest rate of HIV infection in Türkiye.

Implementing the Lolli-Method and pooled RT-qPCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in schools: a pilot project.

Purpose: School closures have been used as part of lockdown strategies to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, adversely affecting children's health and education. To ensure the accessibility of educational institutions without exposing society to the risk of increased transmissions, it is essential to establish SARS-CoV-2 testing strategies that are child-friendly, scalable and implementable in a daily school routine. Self-sampling using non-invasive saliva swabs combined with pooled RT-qPCR testing (Lolli-Method) has been proven to be a sensitive method for the detection of SARS-CoV-2.

Effective high-throughput RT-qPCR screening for SARS-CoV-2 infections in children.

Systematic SARS-CoV-2 testing is a valuable tool for infection control and surveillance. However, broad application of high sensitive RT-qPCR testing in children is often hampered due to unpleasant sample collection, limited RT-qPCR capacities and high costs. Here, we developed a high-throughput approach ('Lolli-Method') for SARS-CoV-2 detection in children, combining non-invasive sample collection with an RT-qPCR-pool testing strategy.

Respiratory viruses dynamics and interactions: ten years of surveillance in central Europe.

Background: Lower respiratory tract infections are among the main causes of death. Although there are many respiratory viruses, diagnostic efforts are focused mainly on influenza. The Respiratory Viruses Network (RespVir) collects infection data, primarily from German university hospitals, for a high diversity of infections by respiratory pathogens.

Safe and effective pool testing for SARS-CoV-2 detection.

Objectives: The global spread of SARS-CoV-2 is a serious public health issue. Large-scale surveillance screenings are crucial but can exceed test capacities. We (A) optimized test conditions and (B) implemented pool testing of respiratory swabs into SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics.

Pooled RT-qPCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in schools - a cluster randomised trial.

Background: The extent to which children and adolescents contribute to SARS-CoV-2 transmission remains not fully understood. Novel high-capacity testing methods may provide real-time epidemiological data in educational settings helping to establish a rational approach to prevent and minimize SARS-CoV-2 transmission. We investigated whether pooling of samples for SARS-CoV-2 detection by RT-qPCR is a sensitive and feasible high-capacity diagnostic strategy for surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 infections in schools.

Rhinovirus prevalence as indicator for efficacy of measures against SARS-CoV-2.

Background: Non-pharmaceutical measures to control the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) should be carefully tuned as they can impose a heavy social and economic burden. To quantify and possibly tune the efficacy of these anti-SARS-CoV-2 measures, we have devised indicators based on the abundant historic and current prevalence data from other respiratory viruses.

Methods: We obtained incidence data of 17 respiratory viruses from hospitalized patients and outpatients collected by 37 clinics and laboratories between 2010-2020 in Germany.