Publications by authors named "R Surtees"

Article Synopsis
  • The 2022 mpox outbreak in Berlin primarily affected men who have sex with men (MSM), highlighting a need to understand the prevalence of undiagnosed cases.
  • A cross-sectional study was conducted, involving 1,119 MSM participants who provided socio-demographic data and blood samples for serological analysis to identify mpox infections.
  • The study found that 7.4% reported a previous mpox diagnosis and identified an additional 91 cases of suspected undiagnosed infections, with those affected more likely to have had multiple condomless anal sex partners.
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The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is deteriorating. It is increasingly recognised that mental health is a systemic issue, with a wide range of contributing and interacting factors. However, the vast majority of attention and resources are focused on the identification and treatment of mental health disorders, with relatively scant attention on the social determinants of mental health and wellbeing and investment in preventative approaches.

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The monkeypox virus (MPXV) outbreak in 2022 has renewed interest in the detection of antibodies against orthopox viruses (OPXV) and MPXV, as serological methods can aid diagnostics and are key to epidemiological studies. Here three complementary serological methods are described with different strengths to aid the development and evaluation of in-house assays: An immunofluorescence assay (IFA) for specific detection of IgG and IgM, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for higher sample throughput to aid epidemiological studies and a neutralization test to detect virus neutralizing antibodies. As implementation of MPXV-specific diagnostics is often hampered by the requirement for a dedicated biosafety level 3 laboratory (BSL-3), the focus of this study is on biosafety aspects to facilitate safe testing also under BSL-2 conditions.

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