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Article
Open AccessAvailability of published evidence on coverage, cost components, and funding support for digitalisation of infectious disease surveillance in Africa, 2003–2022: a systematic review
The implementation of digital disease surveillance systems at national levels in Africa have been challenged by many factors. These include user applicability, utility of IT features but also stable financial ...
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Article
Open AccessDevelopment and validation of a respiratory syncytial virus multiplex immunoassay
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the leading causes of severe respiratory disease in infants and adults. While vaccines and monoclonal therapeutic antibodies either are or will shortly become availa...
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Article
Open AccessTuberculosis case fatality is higher in male than female patients in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Epidemiological TB data indicate differences in infection prevalence, progression rates, and clinical disease incidence between sexes. In contrast, evidence on sex-specific differential (post) TB case fatality...
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Article
Open AccessEstimates of protection levels against SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 in Germany before the 2022/2023 winter season: the IMMUNEBRIDGE project
Despite the need to generate valid and reliable estimates of protection levels against SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe course of COVID-19 for the German population in summer 2022, there was a lack of systemati...
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Article
Open AccessSARS-CoV-2 sero-immunity and quality of life in children and adolescents in relation to infections and vaccinations: the IMMUNEBRIDGE KIDS cross-sectional study, 2022
The study evaluates the effects on sero-immunity, health status and quality of life of children and adolescents after the upsurge of the Omicron variant in Germany.
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Article
Open AccessAn appeal for strengthening genomic pathogen surveillance to improve pandemic preparedness and infection prevention: the German perspective
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted the importance of viable infection surveillance and the relevant infrastructure. From a German perspective, an integral part of this infrastructure, genomic pathogen seq...
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Article
Open AccessOccurrence of extrapulmonary tuberculosis is associated with geographical origin: spatial characteristics of the Frankfurt TB cohort 2013–2018
Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by M. tuberculosis complex (MTB) and pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is its classical manifestation. However, in some regions of the world, extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) seems to be more frequ...
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Article
Open AccessEffect of risk status for severe COVID-19 on individual contact behaviour during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in 2020/2021—an analysis based on the German COVIMOD study
One of the primary aims of contact restriction measures during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has been to protect people at increased risk of severe disease from the virus. Knowledge about the uptake of contact restr...
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Article
Open AccessImplementing the Lolli-Method and pooled RT-qPCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in schools: a pilot project
School closures have been used as part of lockdown strategies to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, adversely affecting children’s health and education. To ensure the accessibility of educational institutions w...
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Article
Open AccessEtablierung der Genomischen Erreger-Surveillance zur Stärkung des Pandemie- und Infektionsschutzes in Deutschland
Die SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie hat ein Defizit an essentieller infektionsepidemiologischer Infrastruktur, insbesondere in Bezug auf die Genomische Erreger-Surveillance (GES) in Deutschland, gezeigt. Zur Vorbereitung ...
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Article
Open AccessThe common interests of health protection and the economy: evidence from scenario calculations of COVID-19 containment policies
We develop a novel approach integrating epidemiological and economic models that allows data-based simulations during a pandemic. We examine the economically optimal opening strategy that can be reconciled wit...
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Article
Open AccessAge-specific contribution of contacts to transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Germany
Current estimates of pandemic SARS-CoV-2 spread in Germany using infectious disease models often do not use age-specific infection parameters and are not always based on age-specific contact matrices of the po...
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Article
Open AccessDiminished neutralization responses towards SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VoC after mRNA or vector-based COVID-19 vaccinations
SARS-CoV-2 variants accumulating immune escape mutations provide a significant risk to vaccine-induced protection against infection. The novel variant of concern (VoC) Omicron BA.1 and its sub-lineages have th...
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Article
Open AccessBorrelia multiplex: a bead-based multiplex assay for the simultaneous detection of Borrelia specific IgG/IgM class antibodies
Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common tick-borne infectious disease in the northern hemisphere. The diagnosis of LB is usually made by clinical symptoms and subsequently supported by serology. In Europe, a ...
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Article
Open AccessBidirectional screening and treatment outcomes of diabetes mellitus (DM) and Tuberculosis (TB) patients in hospitals with measures to integrate care of DM and TB and those without integration measures in Malawi
There are efforts in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) to integrate Tuberculosis (TB) and Diabetes mellitus (DM) healthcare services, as encouraged by WHO and other international health organizations. Ho...
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Article
Open AccessIndividual social contact data and population mobility data as early markers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics during the first wave in Germany—an analysis based on the COVIMOD study
The effect of contact reduction measures on infectious disease transmission can only be assessed indirectly and with considerable delay. However, individual social contact data and population mobility data can...
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Article
Open AccessReducing burden from respiratory infections in refugees and immigrants: a systematic review of interventions in OECD, EU, EEA and EU-applicant countries
Respiratory diseases are a major reason for refugees and other immigrants seeking health care in countries of arrival. The burden of respiratory diseases in refugees is exacerbated by sometimes poor living con...
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Article
Open AccessAssessing excess mortality in times of pandemics based on principal component analysis of weekly mortality data—the case of COVID-19
The COVID-19 outbreak has called for renewed attention to the need for sound statistical analyses to monitor mortality patterns and trends over time. Excess mortality has been suggested as the most appropriate...
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Article
Open AccessEffect modification of the association between comorbidities and severe course of COVID-19 disease by age of study participants: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Comprehensive evidence synthesis on the associations between comorbidities and behavioural factors with hospitalisation, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and death due to COVID-19 is required for deriving ...
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Article
Open AccessDevelopment of the reproduction number from coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 case data in Germany and implications for political measures
SARS-CoV-2 has induced a worldwide pandemic and subsequent non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to control the spread of the virus. As in many countries, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Germany has led to a cons...
