Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness against Hospitalization, Season 2021/22: A Test-Negative Design Study in Barcelona.

Background: Vaccination is considered the most effective measure for preventing influenza and its complications. The influenza vaccine effectiveness (IVE) varies annually due to the evolution of influenza viruses and the update of vaccine composition. Assessing the IVE is crucial to facilitate decision making in public health policies.

Rapid diagnostic tests and ELISA for diagnosing chronic Chagas disease: Systematic revision and meta-analysis.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic validity of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) among individuals with suspected chronic Chagas Disease (CD).

Methodology: A search was made for studies with ELISA and RDT assays validity estimates as eligibility criteria, published between 2010 and 2020 on PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and LILACS. This way, we extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias and applicability of the studies using the QUADAS-2 tool.

Sensitivity and Specificity of two rapid tests for the diagnosis of infection by Trypanosoma cruzi in a Colombian population.

Objective: To evaluate diagnostic precision of two rapid diagnostic tests (RDT's) on patients with chronic Chagas disease.

Methodology: Prospective study with the following inclusion criteria: subjects older than 3 years, signed informed consent. Exclusion criterion: subjects could not have previously received treatment for infection with T.

Infections with Mycobacterium chimaera and open chest surgery. An unresolved problem.

Mycobacterium chimaera (M. chimaera) is a non-tuberculous mycobacterium of the Mycobacterium avium complex. Between 2013 and April 2018, more than 140 cases of severe infection have been identified, all of them in patients who had undergone cardiothoracic surgery with extracorporeal circulation.

Vaccination coverage against pertussis in pregnant women of Catalonia in the first year of implementation of the immunisation program.

Introduction: The re-emergence of pertussis and the severity of its complications in infants younger than 3 months, were determining factors for starting a vaccination program for pregnant women in the third trimester of gestation in Catalonia in February 2014. This was the first autonomous community to introduce it in Spain. The aim of the study was to estimate the coverage of the program in its first year of implementation.

Cost-benefit of the introduction of new strategies for vaccination against pertussis in Spain: cocooning and pregnant vaccination strategies.

Background: Pertussis remains a public health problem in countries with high vaccination coverage. Classic vaccination approaches have failed to effectively control the infection. The incidence of pertussis hospitalizations in infants is high, especially in those younger than 3 months who are in high risk of a severe disease and death.

[Hospitalization due to whooping cough in Spain (1997-2011)].

Introduction: Pertussis incidence has increased in recent years in countries with high vaccination coverage. The aim of this study was to determine the health impact of pertussis in Spain in the period 1997-2011 in relation to hospitalizations, mortality, and associated costs.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed hospital discharges included in the Minimum Data Set (MDS) in Spain for the period 1997-2011, with a primary or secondary diagnosis related to pertussis.

Incidence of whooping cough in Spain (1997-2010): an underreported disease.

Unlabelled: Whooping cough is currently the worst controlled vaccine-preventable disease in the majority of countries. In order to reduce its morbidity and mortality, it is essential to adapt vaccination programmes to data provided by epidemiological surveillance. A population-based retrospective epidemiological study to estimate the minimum annual undernotification rate of pertussis in Spain from 1997 to 2010 was performed.

Particle counting and microbiological air sampling: results of the simultaneous use of both procedures in different types of hospital rooms.

Introduction: In order to assess the relationship between the concentrations of airborne fungi and particles, particle counting was combined with fungal air sampling in several rooms of a hospital.

Methods: Concentrations of ≥0.5μm particles (P05) and ≥1μm particles (P1) were measured using a particle counter; fungal air sampling was performed with volumetric air samplers, which impacted air on Rodac plates with Sabouraud chloramphenicol agar.

[Safety-engineered devices to prevent percutaneous injuries: cost-effectiveness analysis on prevention of high-risk exposure].

Objective: To assess the efficiency of the replacement of several medical devices by engineered sharp injury (SI) prevention devices (ESIPDs).

Methods: The cost-effectiveness ratios of the replacement of medical devices in use by ESIPDs were estimated: their purchasing costs and the direct costs of sharp injury care were taken into account; the number of SI avoidable by each ESIPD was estimated from the 252 occupational SI notified by healthcare workers at a 1,300 bed hospital from March 2002 to February 2003. The relationship between ESIPD additional costs and the number of high-risk SI was estimated (SI were classified as high-risk if they met two or more of the following criteria: moderately-deep or deep injury, injury with a device previously inserted in an artery or vein, or with a device exposed to blood).

Prospective, randomised study on antibiotic prophylaxis in colorectal surgery. Is it really necessary to use oral antibiotics?

Background And Aims: The use of prophylactic antibiotics in addition to mechanical cleansing is the current standard of care prior to colonic surgery. The question of whether the antibiotics should be administered intravenously or orally, or by both routes, remains controversial. Our aim was to compare three methods of prophylactic antibiotic administration in elective colorectal surgery.