Impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women and their babies: clinical and epidemiological features.

Objective: Assess the risk associated with COVID-19 in pregnant women on maternal and neonatal outcomes in Catalonia (Spain) in 2020, before the beginning of COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Method: Cross-sectional descriptive study with all pregnant women (41,560) and their live newborns (42,097) (1st March to 31st December 2020). Women were classified: positive and negative COVID-19 diagnosis during pregnancy.

Pertactin-Deficient Bordetella pertussis with Unusual Mechanism of Pertactin Disruption, Spain, 1986-2018.

Bordetella pertussis not expressing pertactin has increased in countries using acellular pertussis vaccines (ACV). The deficiency is mostly caused by pertactin gene disruption by IS481. To assess the effect of the transition from whole-cell vaccine to ACV on the emergence of B.

Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 virus circulation using Acute Respiratory Infections sentinel system of Catalonia (PIDIRAC) during the 2019-2020 season: A retrospective observational study.

Background: In the context of COVID-19 pandemic in Catalonia (Spain), the present study analyses respiratory samples collected by the primary care network using Acute Respiratory Infections Sentinel Surveillance System (PIDIRAC) during the 2019-2020 season to complement the pandemic surveillance system in place to detect SARS-CoV-2. The aim of the study is to describe whether SARS-CoV-2 was circulating before the first confirmed case was detected in Catalonia, on February 25th, 2020.

Methods: The study sample was made up of all samples collected by the PIDIRAC primary care network as part of the Influenza and Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) surveillance system activities.

Guillain-Barré-Strohl syndrome and COVID-19: Case report and literature review.

In recent months, the new beta-coronavirus has caused a pandemic with symptoms affecting mainly the respiratory system. It is established that the virus may play a neurotropic role and in recent months several cases of Guillain-Barré-Strohl syndrome (GBS) have been reported in patients infected with COVID-19. We report the case of a 54-year-old patient with acute demyelinating polyneuropathy during infection by SARS-CoV-2 who progressed clinically to require assisted ventilation.

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of children hospitalized due to influenza A and B in the south of Europe, 2010-2016.

Influenza produces annual epidemics that affect 5-15% of the world population. Complications and hospitalizations are more frequent in childhood. This study describes and analyses the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of children hospitalized due to confirmed influenza in influenza surveillance sentinel hospitals in Catalonia.

Epidemiology of congenital Chagas disease 6 years after implementation of a public health surveillance system, Catalonia, 2010 to 2015.

BackgroundChagas disease is endemic in Latin America and affects 8 million people worldwide. In 2010, Catalonia introduced systematic public health surveillance to detect and treat congenital Chagas disease.AimThe objective was to evaluate the health outcomes of the congenital Chagas disease screening programme during the first 6 years (2010-2015) after its introduction in Catalonia.

A case of respiratory toxigenic diphtheria: contact tracing results and considerations following a 30-year disease-free interval, Catalonia, Spain, 2015.

In May 2015, following a 30-year diphtheria-free interval in Catalonia, an unvaccinated 6-year-old child was diagnosed with diphtheria caused by toxigenic . After a difficult search for equine-derived diphtheria antitoxin (DAT), the child received the DAT 4 days later but died at the end of June. Two hundred and seventeen contacts were identified in relation to the index case, and their vaccination statuses were analysed, updated and completed.

[Ebola alert: results and challenges in public health. A view from Catalonia (Spain)].

The Ebola outbreak in Guinea Conakry was notified to the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2014. It is the most complex Ebola outbreak to date, affecting Guinea Conakry as well as the surrounding countries and with a risk of the disease spreading outside Africa. For this reason, the World Health Organization declared this Ebola outbreak an international public health emergency in August 2014.

[Surveillance Plan on Recent Outbreak of Measles and Rubella in Catalonia, Spain].

Measles and rubella are two immuno-preventive illnesses. In Catalonia, since 1988 all children are given two doses of measles and rubella vaccine with high levels of vaccination coverage. The measles elimination programme has been carried out since 1990 in Catalonia.