Risk factors and potential preventive measures for nephropatia epidemica in Sweden 2011-2012: a case-control study.

Introduction: Nephropatia epidemica (NE), a relatively mild form of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome caused by the Puumala virus (PUUV), is endemic in northern Sweden. We aim to study the risk factors associated with NE in this region.

Methods: We conducted a matched case-control study between June 2011 and July 2012.

Oral delivery of plant-derived HIV-1 p24 antigen in low doses shows a superior priming effect in mice compared to high doses.

During early infection with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), there is a rapid depletion of CD4(+) T-cells in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) in the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, immediate protection at these surfaces is of high priority for the development of an HIV-1 vaccine. Thus, transgenic plants expressing HIV-1 antigens, which are exposed to immune competent cells in the GALT during oral administration, can be interesting as potential vaccine candidates.

Rapid subtyping of Yersinia enterocolitica by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for diagnostics and surveillance.

In this study, an alternative to the current traditional bioserotyping techniques was developed for subtyping Y. enterocolitica using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The most common pathogenic bioserotypes could easily be distinguished using only a few bioserotype-specific biomarkers.

Syndromic surveillance for local outbreak detection and awareness: evaluating outbreak signals of acute gastroenteritis in telephone triage, web-based queries and over-the-counter pharmacy sales.

For the purpose of developing a national system for outbreak surveillance, local outbreak signals were compared in three sources of syndromic data--telephone triage of acute gastroenteritis, web queries about symptoms of gastrointestinal illness, and over-the-counter (OTC) pharmacy sales of antidiarrhoeal medication. The data sources were compared against nine known waterborne and foodborne outbreaks in Sweden in 2007-2011. Outbreak signals were identified for the four largest outbreaks in the telephone triage data and the two largest outbreaks in the data on OTC sales of antidiarrhoeal medication.

Increased incidence of invasive group A streptococcal infections in Sweden, January 2012-February 2013.

The incidence of invasive group A streptococcal infections in Sweden was 6.1 per 100,000 population in 2012, the highest since the disease became notifiable in 2004. Furthermore, January and February 2013 marked a dramatic increase of cases notified, partly explainable by an increase of emm1/T1 isolates, a type previously shown to cause severe invasive disease more often than other types.

Is adolescent pertussis vaccination preferable to natural booster infections?

Pertussis is still poorly controlled in both adolescents and adults. As a result, an adolescent pertussis booster vaccine dose has already been implemented or decided on in many countries. The reasons for this have been twofold: a worrying increase of infections in the target group of adolescents and a wish to prevent serious pertussis disease among young yet unvaccinated, and partly vaccinated, infants.