Publications by authors named "Simin Aysel Florescu"

Background: Arboviruses are increasingly affecting Europe, partly due to the effects of climate change. This increase in range and impact emphasises the need to improve preparedness for emerging arboviral infections that often co-circulate and might have overlapping clinical syndromes. We aimed to strengthen surveillance networks for four clinically relevant arboviruses in southeast Europe.

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Background: Arboviruses have expanded into new regions in Europe, yet data indicate gaps in disease notifications and a risk of further spread. We aimed to report on prevalence, clinical management, and outcomes of endemic arbovirus infections in southeast Europe.

Methods: In this prospective observational study (MERMAIDS-ARBO), we enrolled adults (age ≥18 years) hospitalised with an arbovirus-compatible disease syndrome within 21 days of symptom onset across 21 hospitals in seven countries in southeast Europe over four arbovirus seasons (May 1-Oct 31, during 2016-19).

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Although nontoxigenic usually stands in the shadow of the two serogroups (O1 and O139) that cause pandemic cholera, its role in human pathology is increasingly recognized and described in the literature. The habitat of these pathogens is brackish seawater or even freshwater, and the infections caused by them include contact with these waters or consumption of seafood originating in this habitat, which is constantly expanding because of global warming. This habitat extension is a typical example of climate change's impact on infectious diseases.

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The emergence of carbapenem-resistant pathogenic bacteria is a growing global public health concern. Carbapenem-resistant uropathogenic strains of can cause uncomplicated or complicated urinary tract infections, leading to a high risk of treatment failure and the spread of resistance determinants. The objectives of this 24-month study were to identify the prognostic characteristics of patients who were infected with carbapenem-resistant () and to create a tool to estimate the probability of a infection before having the complete results of a patient's antibiogram.

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Introduction: Repeated COVID-19 booster vaccination was recommended in healthcare workers (HCWs) to maintain protection. We measured the relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) of the second booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine compared to the first booster, against laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCWs.

Methods: In a prospective cohort study among HCWs from 12 European hospitals, we collected nasopharyngeal or saliva samples at enrolment and during weekly/fortnightly follow-up between October 2022 and May 2023.

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Background/objectives: , an anaerobic bacillus ubiquitous in nature, is the leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhoea and one of the main causes of mortality by nosocomial infections. We aimed to identify the main predictors of the risk of dying and the characteristics of a three-year cohort of patients hospitalised in our clinic that eventually had an unfavourable outcome.

Methods: We collected retrospectively available data for all patients hospitalised between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2023.

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European countries have included healthcare workers (HCWs) among priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination. We established a multi-country hospital network to measure the SARS-CoV-2 incidence and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines among HCWs against laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. HCWs from 19 hospitals in 10 countries participated in a dynamic prospective cohort study, providing samples for SARS-CoV-2 testing at enrolment and during weekly/fortnightly follow-up.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study assessed the effectiveness of the autumn 2023 COVID-19 vaccination in 1,305 healthcare workers across 13 European hospitals against confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections.
  • Overall, the vaccine effectiveness was found to be 22%, with a notable difference in effectiveness before and after the predominant circulation of specific variants (BA.2.86/JN.1).
  • The findings suggest that the autumn 2023 vaccination resulted in only a moderate-to-low reduction in infection rates among healthcare workers, emphasizing the need for ongoing monitoring of vaccine effectiveness for better COVID-19 prevention strategies.
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Article Synopsis
  • - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can affect not just the liver but also other tissues, leading to conditions like cryoglobulinemia, lymphoproliferative diseases, metabolic disorders, and neuropsychiatric issues due to immune responses triggered by the virus.
  • - The immune response to HCV contributes to these extrahepatic manifestations, showing that the virus has far-reaching effects beyond liver damage.
  • - Antiviral therapies that target HCV help alleviate these extrahepatic issues, improve patients' quality of life, and address HCV as a significant public health concern.
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Introduction Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with various extrahepatic manifestations, including depression. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression in treatment-naive HCV patients and explore its potential association with liver fibrosis severity. Methodology A consecutive cohort of 50 treatment-naive HCV patients without coinfections was enrolled over six months.

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Background: Carbapenem-resistant (Cr-Kpn) is becoming a growing public health problem through the failure of adequate treatment. This study's objectives are to describe the sources of Cr-Kpn in our hospital over 22 months, associating factors with the outcome of Cr-Kpn-positive patients, especially those with NDM+OXA-48- (New Delhi Metallo-β-Lactamase and oxacillinase-48) and the effectiveness of the treatments used.

Methods: A retrospective observational cohort study including all hospitalized patients with Cr-Kpn isolates.

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Objectives: To assess the mortality attributable to infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) and to investigate the effect of clinical management on differences in observed outcomes in a multinational matched cohort study.

Methods: A prospective matched-cohorts study (NCT02709408) was performed in 50 European hospitals from March 2016 to November 2018. The main outcome was 30-day mortality with an active post-discharge follow-up when applied.

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Monkeypox virus (mpox), a double-stranded DNA virus belonging to the Orthopox genus, can affect vulnerable anatomic sites, including the eyes, causing a monkeypox-related ophthalmic disease. The mpox virus may enter the eye via autoinoculation and cause multiple problems from mild lesions including conjunctivitis, blepharitis, keratitis, to severe ones such as corneal ulcers, corneal scarring, and rarely loss of vision. The aim of this article is to aggregate from an ophthalmologic point of view what is presently known about mpox-related ophthalmic disease (mpoxROD) and to present a particular case of a 41-year-old, white, bisexual, HIV positive male, with severe ocular complications.

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Differential diagnosis of bacterial meningitis (BM) and viral meningitis (VM) is a critical clinical challenge, as the early and accurate identification of the causative agent determines the appropriate treatment regimen and markedly improves patient outcomes. Clinical and experimental studies have demonstrated that the pathogen and the host immune response contribute to mortality and neurological sequelae. As BM is associated with the activation of an inflammatory cascade, the patterns of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines/chemokines (CTs/CKs) present in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in response to the immune assault may be useful as sensitive markers for differentiating BM from VM.

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West Nile virus (WNV) can cause asymptomatic infection in humans, result in self-limiting febrile illness, or lead to severe West Nile Neuroinvasive disease (WNND). We conducted a pilot study to compare selected biomarkers of oxidative stress in sera of viremic West Nile virus patients and asymptomatic infected blood donors to investigate their potential as predictors of disease severity. We found that total oxidant status was elevated in WNND and in uncomplicated WNV infections (median 9.

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Background: We evaluated clinical effectiveness of regdanvimab (CT-P59), a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 neutralizing monoclonal antibody, in reducing disease progression and clinical recovery time in patients with mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), primarily Alpha variant.

Methods: This was phase 3 of a phase 2/3 parallel-group, double-blind, randomized clinical trial. Outpatients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 were randomized to single-dose regdanvimab 40 mg/kg (n = 656) or placebo (n = 659), alongside standard of care.

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The continuous variability of SARS-CoV-2 and the rapid waning of specific antibodies threatens the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. We aimed to evaluate antibody kinetics one year after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with an mRNA vaccine in healthcare workers (HCW), with or without a booster. A marked decline in anti-Spike(S)/Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) antibody levels was registered during the first eight months post-vaccination, followed by a transitory increase after the booster.

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COVID-19 has proven to be an independent risk factor for secondary infectious complications. Amongst them, mucormycosis has recently been noticed more frequently than in the past. Caused by molds belonging to the order, this is a rare, but potentially fatal infection unless adequately treated.

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Bacillus anthracis is a sporulating gram-positive rod whose main route of entry into the human body is cutaneous. Anthrax meningitis is usually fulminant and fatal. We present here a successfully treated case of anthrax meningoencephalitis complicated with brain abscess.

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Importance: Evidence regarding corticosteroid use for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is limited.

Objective: To determine whether hydrocortisone improves outcome for patients with severe COVID-19.

Design, Setting, And Participants: An ongoing adaptive platform trial testing multiple interventions within multiple therapeutic domains, for example, antiviral agents, corticosteroids, or immunoglobulin.

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