Measles outbreak in Gothenburg urban area, Sweden, 2017 to 2018: low viral load in breakthrough infections.

In an outbreak of measles in Gothenburg, Sweden, breakthrough infections (i.e. infections in individuals with a history of vaccination) were common.

Core mutations, IL28B polymorphisms and response to peginterferon/ribavirin treatment in Swedish patients with hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection.

Background: Patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 respond poorly to standard treatment with 50% or less achieving sustained virologic response. Predicting outcome is essential and could help avoid unnecessary treatment and reduce health cost. Recently, an association of amino acid substitutions in the core region and treatment outcome was observed in Japanese patients.

Response prediction and treatment tailoring for chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection.

We monitored early viral response during the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with the aim of identifying predictors of treatment outcome. We studied 53 patients with genotype 1 infection who received 180 microg/week pegylated interferon alfa-2a and 1,000 or 1,200 mg/day ribavirin depending on body weight and serially assessed HCV RNA in serum, using the Cobas TaqMan assay. Thirty-one patients (58%) achieved sustained viral response (SVR).

The epidemiology of and risk factors for invasive Staphylococcus aureus infections in western Sweden.

We conducted a prospective study of all cases of invasive Staphylococcus aureus infections (ISA) in the catchment area of Skaraborg Hospital (population 255,109) in western Sweden from March 2003 to February 2005. The annual incidence was 33.9 cases/100,000 population.

[Hepatitis B--sexually transmitted disease among young people. Outbreak in Skaraborg could have resulted in an epidemic].

An outbreak of sexually transmitted hepatitis B among teenagers is reported. A complicated pattern of contacts was discovered among those involved. The young people involved were tested for hepatitis B, an offer of vaccination was given and contact tracing was undertaken.