[At the heart of the Dutch COVID-19 epidemic: experiences of a municipal health service and a look at the future].

COVID-19 first appeared in the Netherlands at the end of February 2020. North Brabant province was the epicentre, which led the municipal health service (GGD) 'Hart voor Brabant' to register 1495 cases in a single month in its area. As the GGD spearheaded the fight, it was faced with a rapid increase to a major epidemic.

A Multidimensional Approach to Assessing Infectious Disease Risk: Identifying Risk Classes Based on Psychological Characteristics.

Prevention of infectious diseases depends on health-related behavior, which is often influenced by psychological characteristics. However, few studies assessing health-related behavior have examined psychological characteristics to identify risk groups, and this multidimensional approach might improve disease risk assessment. We aimed to characterize subgroups based on psychological characteristics and examine their influence on behavior and disease risk, using chlamydia as a case study.

Study protocol of the iMPaCT project: a longitudinal cohort study assessing psychological determinants, sexual behaviour and chlamydia (re)infections in heterosexual STI clinic visitors.

Background: Chlamydia trachomatis (chlamydia), the most commonly reported sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the Netherlands, can lead to severe reproductive complications. Reasons for the sustained chlamydia prevalence in young individuals, even in countries with chlamydia screening programs, might be the asymptomatic nature of chlamydia infections, and high reinfection rates after treatment. When individuals are unaware of their infection, preventive behaviour or health-care seeking behaviour mostly depends on psychological determinants, such as risk perception.