Agile, on-demand wastewater surveillance of virus infections to support pandemic and outbreak response in Rotterdam-Rijnmond, the Netherlands, 2020 to 2022.

BackgroundWastewater surveillance may support early and comprehensive detection of infectious diseases' community transmission, particularly in settings where other health surveillance systems provide biased or limited information. Amid the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, deploying passive samplers to monitor targeted populations gained importance. Evaluation of the added public health value of this approach in the field can support its broader adoption.

Accessible viral metagenomics for public health and clinical domains with Jovian.

The integration of next-generation sequencing into clinical diagnostics and surveillance initiatives is impeded by the lack of data analysis pipelines that align with privacy legislation and laboratory certification protocols. To address these challenges, we developed Jovian, an open-source, virus-focused, metagenomic analysis workflow for Illumina data. Jovian generates scaffolds enriched with pertinent annotations, including taxonomic classification, combined with metrics needed for quality assessment (coverage depth, average GC content, localization of open reading frames, minority single nucleotide polymorphisms), and incorporates host and disease metadata.

Monkeypox Clade Ib virus introduction into Burundi: first findings, July to mid-August 2024.

We describe cases with monkeypox virus (MPXV) Clade Ib in Burundi from their first detection in July until 20 August 2024. Testing 442 people with vesicular lesions confirmed 170 cases (98 male; 72 female), 82 (48%) being < 15 years old. Differential diagnosis of the first 30 individuals testing MPXV negative revealed chickenpox in 20.

Estimating the force of infection of four dengue serotypes from serological studies in two regions of Vietnam.

Dengue is endemic in Vietnam with circulation of all four serotypes (DENV1-4) all year-round. It is hard to estimate the disease's true serotype-specific transmission patterns from cases due to its high asymptomatic rate, low reporting rate and complex immunity and transmission dynamics. Seroprevalence studies have been used to great effect for understanding patterns of dengue transmission.

Impact of COVID-19 Nonpharmaceutical Interventions on , Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Influenza Virus, and Seasonal Coronavirus Antibody Levels: A Systematic Review.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were introduced to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2. This also resulted in a reduction of notifications of other acute respiratory infections and an altered seasonality when NPIs were lifted. Without circulation of pathogens, waning of antibodies is expected, which is a first indicator of decreased immunity.

Differential susceptibility of human motor neurons to infection with Usutu and West Nile virus.

West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are closely related flaviviruses with differing capacities to cause neurological disease in humans. WNV is thought to use a transneural route of neuroinvasion along motor neurons and causes severe motor deficits. The potential for use of transneural routes of neuroinvasion by USUV has not been investigated experimentally, and evidence from the few clinical case reports of USUV-associated neuroinvasive disease is lacking.

Sentinel chicken surveillance reveals previously undetected circulation of West Nile virus in the Netherlands.

West Nile virus (WNV) was first detected in the Netherlands in 2020, with circulation observed in birds, mosquitoes, and humans in two geographical areas. Usutu virus (USUV) has been circulating in the Netherlands since 2016. Following the detection of WNV in the Netherlands, we investigated the possible use of petting zoos as urban sentinel sites to examine the extent of WNV and USUV circulation around the two WNV outbreak locations.

Time-series sewage metagenomics distinguishes seasonal, human-derived and environmental microbial communities potentially allowing source-attributed surveillance.

Sewage metagenomics has risen to prominence in urban population surveillance of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Unknown species with similarity to known genomes cause database bias in reference-based metagenomics. To improve surveillance, we seek to recover sewage genomes and develop a quantification and correlation workflow for these genomes and AMR over time.

Bacteriophage therapy reduces in a porcine and human burn wound infection model.

Burn wounds are a major burden, with high mortality rates due to infections. is a major causative agent of burn wound infections, which can be difficult to treat because of antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation. An alternative to antibiotics is the use of bacteriophages, viruses that infect and kill bacteria.

The panzootic spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 sublineage 2.3.4.4b: a critical appraisal of One Health preparedness and prevention.

Changes in the epidemiology and ecology of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza are devastating wild bird and poultry populations, farms and communities, and wild mammals worldwide. Having originated in farmed poultry, H5N1 viruses are now spread globally by wild birds, with transmission to many mammal and avian species, resulting in 2024 in transmission among dairy cattle with associated human cases. These ecological changes pose challenges to mitigating the impacts of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza on wildlife, ecosystems, domestic animals, food security, and humans.

Fourth dose bivalent COVID-19 vaccines outperform monovalent boosters in eliciting cross-reactive memory B cells to Omicron subvariants.

Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines comprising ancestral Wuhan-Hu-1 (WH1) and the Omicron BA.1 or BA.5 subvariant elicit enhanced serum antibody responses to emerging Omicron subvariants.

Real-time PCR assay to detect the novel Clade Ib monkeypox virus, September 2023 to May 2024.

Monkeypox virus (MPXV) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen with complex epidemiology necessitating rapid diagnosis and distinguishing between clades and subclades. The emerging Clade Ib lacks the genomic region used in the Clade I-specific assay from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We report an MPXV real-time PCR to specifically detect Clade Ib.

Ixodes ricinus as potential vector for Usutu virus.

Usutu virus (USUV) is an emerging flavivirus that is maintained in an enzootic cycle with mosquitoes as vectors and birds as amplifying hosts. In Europe, the virus has caused mass mortality of wild birds, mainly among Common Blackbird (Turdus merula) populations. While mosquitoes are the primary vectors for USUV, Common Blackbirds and other avian species are exposed to other arthropod ectoparasites, such as ticks.

Determinants of intended prevention behaviour against mosquitoes and mosquito-borne viruses in the Netherlands and Spain using the MosquitoWise survey: cross-sectional study.

Background: Recently, Europe has seen an emergence of mosquito-borne viruses (MBVs). Understanding citizens' perceptions of and behaviours towards mosquitoes and MBVs is crucial to reduce disease risk. We investigated and compared perceptions, knowledge, and determinants of citizens' behavioural intentions related to mosquitoes and MBVs in the Netherlands and Spain, to help improve public health interventions.