Adapting response to a measles outbreak in a context of high vaccination and breakthrough cases: an example from Vaud, Switzerland, January to March 2024.

A measles outbreak with 51 cases occurred in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, between January and March 2024. The outbreak was triggered by an imported case, and 37 (72.5%) subsequent cases were previously vaccinated individuals.

Seizures in Children with Influenza during the 2022-2023 Winter Season, a Case Series.

Influenza is a viral infection presenting with general symptoms such as fever, headache, fatigue, and involvement of airways or the gastrointestinal tract. The nervous system may be involved, but less frequently. These neurological complications remain challenging to diagnose; moreover, no guidelines for management and treatment exist.

Viral suppression and retention in HIV care during the postpartum period among women living with HIV: a longitudinal multicenter cohort study.

Background: Low rates of postnatal retention in HIV care and viral suppression have been reported in women living with HIV (WLWH) despite viral suppression at delivery. At the same time, postpartum follow-up is of crucial importance in light of the increasing support offered in many resource-rich countries including Switzerland to WLWH choosing to breastfeed their infant, if optimal scenario criteria are met.

Methods: We longitudinally investigated retention in HIV care, viral suppression, and infant follow-up in a prospective multicentre HIV cohort study of WLWH in the optimal scenario who had a live birth between January 2000 and December 2018.

Successful implementation of new Swiss recommendations on breastfeeding of infants born to women living with HIV.

Introduction: Swiss national recommendations advise, since end of 2018, supporting women with HIV who wish to breastfeed. Our objective is to describe the motivational factors and the outcome of these women and of their infants.

Methods: mothers included in MoCHiV with a delivery between January 2019 and February 2021 who fulfilled the criteria of the "optimal scenario" (adherence to cART, regular clinical care, and suppressed HIV plasma viral load (pVL) of <50 RNA copies/ml) and who decided to breastfeed after a shared decision-making process, were approached to participate in this nested study and asked to fill-in a questionnaire exploring the main motivating factors for breastfeeding.

School-based HPV Vaccination: Variation in Inter-school Vaccine Uptake not Influenced by the Introduction of a New Information Brochure.

Background: Switzerland, with an adolescent HPV vaccination coverage at 59%, remains far from reaching the crucial swiss national goal of 80% coverage. Our objective was to implement a new information brochure in schools to increase HPV vaccination uptake.

Methods: We designed a public health quality project.

Swiss Evaluation Registry for Pediatric Infective Endocarditis (SERPIE) - Risk factors for complications in children and adolescents with infective endocarditis.

Background: Infective endocarditis (IE) in pediatric patients is a severe cardiac disease and its actual epidemiology and clinical outcome in Switzerland is scarcely studied.

Methods: Retrospective nationwide multicenter data analysis of pediatric IE in children (<18 years) between 2011 and 2020.

Results: 69 patients were treated for definite (40/69;58%) or possible IE (29/69;42%).

Swiss recommendations on perioperative antimicrobial prophylaxis in children.

Infection following surgical procedures leads to significant morbidity and mortality in all age groups. Sterile techniques, antibiotic prophylaxis and improved postoperative wound care have contributed to the decline of surgical site infections since the early days of surgery. Recommendations on the use of perioperative antimicrobial prophylaxis exist for adults, but are rare for the paediatric population.

Acute abdominal emergency due to infectious enteritis: an observational study comparing Campylobacter spp. to other enteric pathogens in children.

Background: Campylobacter spp. are a frequent cause of gastroenteritis, presenting in some patients as an acute abdominal emergency. Here we describe the distinctive clinical characteristics of these patients.

Ensuring Sufficient Trough Plasma Concentrations for Broad-Spectrum Beta-Lactam Antibiotics in Children With Malignancies: Beware of Augmented Renal Clearance!

Broad-spectrum beta-lactams are commonly prescribed for empirical or selective treatment of bacterial infections in children with malignancies. In the immunocompromised, appropriate concentration exposure is crucial to ensure antimicrobial efficacy. Augmented renal clearance (ARC) is increasingly recognized in this population, and raises concern for unmet concentration targets.

[Vaccination in adult patients: shingles vaccines and vaccination in case of anatomical or functional asplenia].

Shingles vaccination and pneumococcal vaccination of patients with celiac disease are among the most recent updates for the vaccination of vulnerable adults, in Switzerland. Shingles and especially post-herpes zoster pain remain an unresolved public health issue. The only vaccine available in Switzerland is very little administered because it is not reimbursed by health insurance companies.

[SARS-CoV-2 in children: epidemiology, clinical presentation and contagiosity].

Children are under-represented in terms of the frequency and severity of COVID-19 disease. Although the proportion of children tested positive remains much lower than that of adults suggesting that they are less susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, seroprevalence studies are contradictory in this regard. With respect to the role of children in transmission of the virus, no biological reason for reduced infectivity has been found.

[MMR vaccination at UNIL and EPFL : Lausanne medical students get involved].

In recent years, several cases of measles have appeared on the campuses of the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). In response to this, several medical students have mobilized in collaboration with various cantonal authorities in order to set up a free measles, mumps and rubella vaccination campaign on the UNIL/EPFL campuses, in 2019. This first edition was a success and will be repeated in the future.

Prevalence of tuberculosis in migrant children in Switzerland and relevance of current screening guidelines.

Aims: Since 2016, Swiss guidelines recommend screening of all migrant children <5 years of age for tuberculosis (TB) and to screen older children only if they have risk factors for TB. Our goals were to describe the epidemiology of latent tuberculosis (LTBI) in migrant children at the Lausanne University Hospital, to identify determinants of LTBI and tuberculosis disease (TBD), and to evaluate the risk of a false-positive tuberculin skin test (TST) when using a positivity limit of 5 mm.

Methods: Newly arrived migrant children 0–18 years of age were prospectively enrolled from 31 August 2015 to 31 August 2017.

[Congenital Toxoplasmosis and CMV in Switzerland in 2019].

Epidemiological trends in congenital toxoplasmosis and CMV are extremely divergent. While there were only 39 cases of congenital toxoplasmosis in Switzerland between 1982 and 2015, there was an equivalent number of cases of congenital CMV, 38 in total, in 2017 alone. Serological screening for toxoplasmosis was logically abandoned in Switzerland in 2008.

Single doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and poliomyelitis vaccines are sufficient to generate a booster-type response to tetanus in most migrant children.

Background: Immunization coverage for three doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and poliomyelitis vaccines in infants is high worldwide, therefore despite the lack of documentation of past vaccinations, most migrant children do not require complete revaccination. Our strategy was to administer a single dose of a tetanus toxoid containing vaccine (TTCV) to migrant children followed by anti-tetanus toxoid (TT) serology to determine whether additional vaccine doses were required. Our goal was to estimate the basic TTCV coverage and to identify potential determinants of the vaccination response.

Burden of Streptococcus pneumoniae Sepsis in Children After Introduction of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines: A Prospective Population-based Cohort Study.

Background: Population-based studies assessing the impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) on burden of pneumococcal sepsis in children are lacking. We aimed to assess this burden following introduction of PCV-13 in a nationwide cohort study.

Methods: The Swiss Pediatric Sepsis Study (September 2011 to December 2015) prospectively recruited children <17 years of age with blood culture-proven sepsis due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, meeting criteria for systemic inflammatory response syndrome.

High coverage of hepatitis B vaccination and low prevalence of chronic hepatitis B in migrant children dictate a new catch-up vaccination strategy.

Background: Worldwide coverage of hepatitis B (HB) vaccination is increasing. This should be considered when determining the best strategy for catch-up HB vaccination in migrant children, who rarely have written proof of past immunizations. This study aimed to estimate HB vaccine protection, chronic HB prevalence and to identify determinants of vaccine protection.

Meningococcal serogroup W135 epiglottitis in an adolescent patient.

Acute epiglottitis is a severe and potentially life-threatening condition. Since the implementation of vaccination, the number of cases of epiglottitis has decreased and the proportion of other infectious causes has increased. We report a case of acute epiglottitis in a teenager caused by , an unusual pathogen.

[Persistent fever in the travelling child].

Persistent fever or FUO (fever of unknown origin) is defined by a fever of more than 1‑2 weeks that remains unexplained, after considerable diagnostic efforts. In the travelling child, in addition to cosmopolitan infectious diseases, tropical pathogens must absolutely be considered according to the regions visited and the activities practiced. A detailed history and a complete clinical examination are essential to decide which supplementary investigations will complete the basic assessment, which must contain the search for malaria in any child who has visited an endemic area.

Demonstration of the effectiveness of zinc in diarrhoea of children living in Switzerland.

Unlabelled: We designed a double-blinded randomized clinical trial of zinc (10 or 20 mg of zinc sulphate for 2-5 month-old or 6-59 month-old children, respectively, during 10 days) vs. placebo in otherwise healthy children aged 2 months to 5 years who presented with acute diarrhoea (i.e.

Risk of cytomegalovirus infection and disease after umbilical cord blood transplantation in children.

Background: Pediatric data regarding cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections in pediatric patients receiving umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation are sparse.

Objective: To determine whether UCB transplantation increases the risk of CMV infection and disease compared with other graft sources.

Methods: The medical files of patients who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at CHU Ste-Justine (Montreal, Quebec) from April 2000 to December 2006 were retrospectively reviewed.

Determinants of hepatitis A vaccine immunity in a cohort of human immunodeficiency virus-infected children living in Switzerland.

Vaccination in HIV-infected children is often less effective than in healthy children. The goal of this study was to assess vaccine responses to hepatitis A virus (HAV) in HIV-infected children. Children of the Swiss Mother and Child HIV Cohort Study (MoCHiV) were enrolled prospectively.

Invasive pneumococcal disease after implementation of a reduced three-dose pneumococcal conjugate vaccine program: a pediatric tertiary care center experience.

Following the implementation of a government-sponsored reduced three-dose (2 + 1) heptavalent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine (PCV7) program, we report a 61.4% decrease in the number of cases of invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPD) treated at our institution. Four years after the implementation of the three-dose reduced vaccine program, only 7.