Cross-sectional survey on hantavirus seroprevalence in Canton St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Background And Objectives: In 2002 the first endemic hantavirus infection in Switzerland was detected only by chance following a broad spectrum of diagnostics. This raised the question, whether Hantavirus infection should be included in the differential diagnosis of febrile illness of patients in Switzerland. In order to estimate the frequency of hantavirus infections in Switzerland, this survey on hantaviral seroprevalence was conducted in the Canton St.

Phylogenetic analysis of clinical mumps virus isolates from vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients with mumps during an outbreak, Switzerland 1998-2000.

During the past decade mumps outbreaks have occurred in several European countries with universal vaccination programs probably due to poor efficacy of the Rubini vaccine strain. However, the evolution of vaccine escape mutants has also been considered. A phylogenetic analysis was undertaken on 69 clinical mumps isolates obtained from 39 vaccinated and 22 non-vaccinated mumps cases (and six cases with unknown vaccination status) during an outbreak in 1998-2000.

Comparison of the effectiveness of two mumps vaccines during an outbreak in Switzerland in 1999 and 2000: a case-cohort study.

In two recent nation-wide outbreaks of mumps in Switzerland two-thirds of young children with clinical mumps had a history of primary vaccination. On average, measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination coverage is 80%. Two types of vaccine are commonly used: Jeryl-Lynn and Rubini.

Nationwide surveillance of nasopharyngeal Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from children with respiratory infection, Switzerland, 1998-1999.

The surveillance of pneumococcal antibiotic resistance and serotype distribution is hampered by the relatively low numbers of invasive pneumococcal infections. In Switzerland, a nationwide sentinel surveillance network was used to assess antibiotic resistance and serotype distribution among 1179 pneumococcal isolates cultured from 2769 nasopharyngeal swabs obtained from outpatients with acute otitis media or pneumonia during 1998 and 1999. The proportion of penicillin-susceptible pneumococcal isolates overall (87%) and among infants <2 years old (81%) was comparable to that of invasive isolates (90% and 81%, respectively).

National laboratory reports of Chlamydia trachomatis seriously underestimate the frequency of genital chlamydial infections among women in Switzerland.

Background: Public health authorities want to evaluate their sexually transmitted disease (STD) surveillance systems to promote the most effective use of health resources.

Goal: The goal of this study was to estimate the sensitivity of national laboratory reports of in Switzerland (the proportion of cases detected by national laboratory reports).

Study Design: A cross sectional prevalence study was conducted by the Swiss Sentinel Surveillance Network of Gynecologists in 1998.