Publications by authors named "Katharina Karsch"

Introduction: A variety of biomarkers are considered for diagnosis (e.g., β2-microgobulin, albumin, or LDH) and prognosis [e.

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Background: Infants exhibit elevated influenza virus loads and prolonged viral shedding, which may increase the risk for resistance development, especially in cases of suboptimal exposure to antiviral therapy.

Methods: We performed a prospective surveillance of hospitalized infants undergoing oseltamivir therapy during the 2008-2009 and 2011-2012 influenza seasons at two paediatric hospitals in Germany. A total of 37 infants less than 1 year of age with laboratory confirmed influenza A(H3N2) infection received oseltamivir as per physician's order for 5 days (2008-2009 season: 2 mg/kg twice daily; 2011-2012 season: 2.

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Parents are often uncertain about the vaccination status of their children. In times of vaccine hesitancy, vaccination programs could benefit from active patient participation. The Vaccination App () was developed by the Vienna Vaccine Safety Initiative, enabling parents to learn about the vaccination status of their children, including 25 different routine, special indication and travel vaccines listed in the WHO Immunization Certificate of Vaccination (WHO-ICV).

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Introduction And Objective: Regulatory authorities often receive poorly structured safety reports requiring considerable effort to investigate potential adverse events post hoc. Automated question-and-answer systems may help to improve the overall quality of safety information transmitted to pharmacovigilance agencies. This paper explores the use of the VACC-Tool (ViVI Automated Case Classification Tool) 2.

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Background And Objectives: Patients with severe influenza virus infection, multi-organ failure and organ replacement therapy may absorb and metabolize neuraminidase inhibitors differently. Systematic pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic clinical trials are currently lacking in this high-risk group. Inadequate dosing increases the risk of treatment failure and drug resistance, especially in severely ill patients with elevated virus loads.

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Infectious and inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system are difficult to identify early. Case definitions for aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, myelitis, and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) are available, but rarely put to use. The VACC-Tool (Vienna Vaccine Safety Initiative Automated Case Classification-Tool) is a mobile application enabling immediate case ascertainment based on consensus criteria at the point-of-care.

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Background: Influenza-like illness (ILI) is a common reason for paediatric consultations. Viral causes predominate, but antibiotics are used frequently. With regard to influenza, pneumococcal coinfections are considered major contributors to morbidity/mortality.

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Article Synopsis
  • ADEM is a rare inflammatory disease that can occur after viral infections, and this study explores its connection specifically with parechoviruses, which haven't been previously linked to ADEM.* -
  • The research was conducted at the Charité Department of Pediatrics in Berlin over a four-year period, screening over 105,000 patients for CNS infections, identifying 114 cases of ADEM.* -
  • The study found parechoviruses in 2.5% of CNS infection cases, reporting the first identified ADEM case related to parechovirus infection in a 5-year-old girl after a respiratory illness.*
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Article Synopsis
  • Systematic studies on the clinical effects of human parechovirus (HPeV) are limited, highlighting the potential of using stool samples for hospital surveillance.
  • A study involved testing stool samples from 284 children with suspected central nervous system (CNS) infections, finding 12 (4.2%) were positive for HPeV and 43 (15.1%) for enterovirus (EV).
  • HPeV-positive children were younger and more likely to have seizures and rashes, indicating that HPeV should be considered when diagnosing CNS infections in young patients.
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Acute respiratory infections represent common pediatric emergencies. Infection control warrants immediate and accurate diagnoses. In the past, first-generation respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) rapid tests (strip tests) have shown suboptimal sensitivities.

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Background: Influenza infections induce considerable disease burden in young children. Biomarkers for the monitoring of disease activity at the point-of-care (POC) are currently lacking. Recent methodologies for fluorescence-based rapid testing have been developed to provide improved sensitivities with the initial diagnosis.

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Acute respiratory infections represent common diseases in childhood and a challenge to infection control, public heath, and the clinical management of patients and their families. Children are avid spreaders of respiratory viruses, and seasonal outbreaks of influenza create additional disease burden and healthcare cost. Infants under the age of two and children with chronic conditions are at high risk.

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Background: The appropriate management of infants and children with influenza depends on the accurate and timely diagnosis, ideally at the point of care (POC).

Objectives: To evaluate the use of simultaneous RSV/influenza rapid testing with QuickVue™ test strips as well as (the use of) novel, fluorescence-based, rapid influenza antigen testing (SOFIA™) in infants and children with influenza-like illness (ILI).

Study Design: The Study was conducted in a real-time surveillance program at the Charité Department of Pediatrics in collaboration with the National Reference Centre for Influenza at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin, Germany (Charité Influenza-Like Disease=ChILD Cohort).

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Background: Infants and small children are the most effective transmitters of influenza, while bearing a high risk of hospitalization and adverse disease outcomes. This study aims to investigate virus load kinetics and resistance development during oseltamivir therapy in infants and children infected with influenza A(H1N1) 2009 and influenza B viruses.

Methods: Virus load in nasopharyngeal samples and phenotypic/genotypic neuraminidase inhibitor resistance were determined at baseline, at day 5 and in additional follow-up samples, if available.

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