Publications by authors named "M Socan"

Article Synopsis
  • In the post-pandemic period, respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, are circulating together, leading to co-infections in patients with acute respiratory infections.
  • A study analyzing 2,099 patients showed that 60% tested positive for one virus, with 340 cases of co-infection identified, primarily with human bocaviruses and parechoviruses.
  • The frequency of co-infections was higher in younger patients and varied depending on the specific viruses involved, highlighting the need for better understanding of these co-infections for effective patient care.
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Background: By March, 2023, 54 countries, areas, and territories (hereafter CAT) in the WHO European Region had reported more than 2·2 million COVID-19-related deaths to the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Here, we estimated how many lives were directly saved by vaccinating adults in the WHO European Region from December, 2020, to March, 2023.

Methods: In this retrospective surveillance study, we estimated the number of lives directly saved by age group, vaccine dose, and circulating variant-of-concern (VOC) period, regionally and nationally, using weekly data on COVID-19 mortality and infection, COVID-19 vaccination uptake, and SARS-CoV-2 virus characterisations by lineage downloaded from The European Surveillance System on June 11, 2023, as well as vaccine effectiveness data from the literature.

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The decision to vaccinate against COVID-19 is primarily a personal choice influenced by numerous factors. Vaccine acceptance and a positive attitude towards vaccination among nurses have an impact on patients' willingness to vaccinate. To assess COVID-19 vaccination coverage among primary healthcare nurses and to associate socio-demographic factors, comorbidity, self-rated health, and unhealthy lifestyle with the decision to be vaccinated, we conducted an online cross-sectional study from March to May 2023 using a self-administrated questionnaire.

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Background: Despite decreasing COVID-19 disease severity during the Omicron waves, a proportion of patients still require hospitalization and intensive care.

Objective: To compare demographic characteristics, comorbidities, vaccination status, and previous infections in patients hospitalized for community-associated COVID-19 (CAC) in predominantly Delta, Omicron BA.1 and BA.

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Due to the high socioeconomic burden of rhinoviruses, the development of prevention and treatment strategies is of high importance. Understanding the epidemiological and clinical features of rhinoviruses is essential in order to address these issues. Our study aimed to define the seasonality and molecular epidemiology of rhinoviruses in Slovenia.

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