Serological Protection Rates against TBEV Infection in Blood Donors from a Highly Endemic Region in Southern Germany.

Background: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is the most significant tick-borne disease in Europe and Asia, with more than 10,000 cases per year worldwide. A surge of reported TBE cases can be observed despite the availability of highly efficient vaccines. There is little known about the serological immune protection rate of the population in Germany.

Tick-borne encephalitis virus IgG antibody surveillance: vaccination- and infection-induced seroprevalences, south-western Germany, 2021.

BackgroundThe exact epidemiology of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) infections is unknown because many TBEV infections have an influenza-like or asymptomatic course. Surveillance data are based on patients with any (predominantly neurological) symptoms that prompted diagnostic testing. Infection- and vaccine-induced antibodies against TBEV can be distinguished using an NS1 IgG ELISA.

Seroprevalence Rates against West Nile, Usutu, and Tick-Borne Encephalitis Viruses in Blood-Donors from North-Western Romania.

Introduction: West Nile virus (WNV), Usutu virus (USUV), and the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) are all arboviruses belonging to family. All are characterized by vectorial transmission and sometimes associated with neuroinvasive infections. The circulation of these viruses is considered endemic in parts of Europe, with human cases reported in many countries.

Selective elimination of bacterial faecal indicators in the Schmutzdecke of slow sand filtration columns.

Slow sand filtration (SSF) is an effective low-tech water treatment method for pathogen and particle removal. Yet despite its application for centuries, it has been uncertain to which extent pathogenic microbes are removed by mechanical filtration or due to ecological interactions such as grazing and competition for nutrients. In this study, we quantified the removal of bacterial faecal indicators, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis, from secondary effluent of a wastewater treatment plant and analysed the microbial community composition in compartments of laboratory model SSF columns.

An optimised PCR/T-RFLP fingerprinting approach for the investigation of protistan communities in groundwater environments.

Due to the scarcity or complete absence of higher organisms, protists may represent an important higher trophic level (above Prokaryotes) in the food webs of groundwater habitats. Nevertheless, the importance of aquifer protists, especially in contaminated groundwater environments, is poorly understood. Partly, this may be due to a lack of adequate PCR and fingerprinting approaches for protists in aquifers, which can be considered low in protistan or high in non-target rRNA gene copy numbers.