ISCIII - Artículos
Recent Submissions
Epidemiology of Herpes Zoster in the pre-vaccination era: establishing the baseline for vaccination programme's impact in Spain
Background: Herpes zoster (HZ) affects 1 in 3 persons in their lifetime, and the risk of HZ increases with increasing age and the presence of immunocompromising conditions. In Spain, vaccination guidelines were recently updated to include the recommendation of the new recombinant zoster vaccine (RZ...
Effectiveness of a Second Dose of an mRNA Vaccine Against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron Infection in Individuals Previously Infected by Other Variants
Background: Single-dose vaccination was widely recommended in the pre-Omicron era for persons with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. The effectiveness of a second vaccine dose in this group in the Omicron era is unknown. Methods: We linked nationwide population registries in Spain to identify communit...
Impact of Lockdown on COVID-19 Transmissibility During the First Pandemic Wave in Spain
Background: The analysis of the evolution of the COVID-19 epidemic can provide evidence of the impact of measures implemented to reduce its progression. Our aim was to describe the evolution of the pandemic in the different Spanish regions and to examine the effect of the non-pharmaceutical public ...
Seasonality and geographical spread of respiratory syncytial virus epidemics in 15 European countries, 2010 to 2016
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is considered the most common pathogen causing severe lower respiratory tract infections among infants and young children. We describe the seasonality and geographical spread of RSV infection in 15 countries of the European Union and European Economic Area. We perf...
Early estimates of seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness in Europe, 2010/11: I-MOVE, a multicentre case-control study
We present early estimates (up to week 4 of 2011) of the 2010/11 seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness in preventing medically attended influenza-like illness(ILI) laboratory confirmed as influenza. Practitioners from seven European sentinel networks systematically swabbed ILI patients. We inclu...
Early estimates of seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness in Europe among target groups for vaccination: results from the I-MOVE multicentre case-control study, 2011/12
To provide an early estimate of 2011/12 influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE), we conducted a multicentre case-control study based on seven sentinel surveillance networks. We included influenza-like illness cases up to week 7/2012 from the vaccination target groups, swabbed less than eight days afte...
Dominant influenza A(H3N2) and B/Yamagata virus circulation in EU/EEA, 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, respectively
We use surveillance data to describe influenza A and B virus circulation over two consecutive seasons with excess all-cause mortality in Europe, especially in people aged 60 years and older. Influenza A(H3N2) virus dominated in 2016/17 and B/Yamagata in 2017/18. The latter season was prolonged with...
Predominance of influenza A(H3N2) virus genetic subclade 3C.2a1 during an early 2016/17 influenza season in Europe - Contribution of surveillance data from World Health Organization (WHO) European Region to the WHO vaccine composition consultation for northern hemisphere 2017/18
During the European 2016/17 influenza season, A(H3N2) viruses have predominated and the majority clustered in genetic subclade 3C.2a1. Genetic analyses showed that circulating viruses have undergone considerable genetic diversification of the haemagglutinin gene from the current vaccine virus A/Hon...
Efectividad de las vacunas frente a SARS-CoV-2 utilizadas en España: infección, hospitalización y mortalidad en personas de cincuenta a cincuenta y nueve años
[ES] En este trabajo se comparó la efectividad de la vacuna contra la COVID-19 (EV) durante agosto de 2021, en personas nacidas entre 1962 y 1971 y vacunadas durante junio, según la marca utilizada. La protección frente a infección por SARS-CoV-2 sintomática fue menor para la vacuna de Janssen (56%...
Influenza vaccine effectiveness against influenza A subtypes in Europe: Results from the 2021-2022 I-MOVE primary care multicentre study
Background: In 2021-2022, influenza A viruses dominated in Europe. The I-MOVE primary care network conducted a multicentre test-negative study to measure influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE). Methods: Primary care practitioners collected information on patients presenting with acute respiratory inf...
Comparative severity of COVID-19 cases caused by Alpha, Delta or Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants and its association with vaccination
[EN] Background: This study compares the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections caused by Alpha, Delta or Omicron variants in periods of co-circulation in Spain, and estimates the variant-specific association of vaccination with severe disease. Methods: SARS-CoV-2 infections notified to the national epi...
Direct and Indirect Effectiveness of mRNA Vaccination against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Long-Term Care Facilities, Spain
We conducted a registries-based cohort study of long-term care facility residents >65 years of age offered vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 before March 10, 2021, in Spain. Risk for infection in vaccinated and nonvaccinated persons was compared with risk in the sa...
European all-cause excess and influenza-attributable mortality in the 2017/18 season: should the burden of influenza B be reconsidered?
Objectives: Weekly monitoring of European all-cause excess mortality, the EuroMOMO network, observed high excess mortality during the influenza B/Yamagata dominated 2017/18 winter season, especially among elderly. We describe all-cause excess and influenza-attributable mortality during the season 2...
Retos del Convenio Europeo del Paisaje para introducir el paisaje en el sistema educativo
[ES]El Convenio Europeo del Paisaje (CEP), primer tratado internacional de desarrollo sostenible, en el que se define el paisaje como: “Una parte del territorio tal y como es percibida por la población, cuyo carácter resulta de la acción de factores naturales y/o humanos y de sus interrelaciones", ...
COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization due to SARS-CoV-2: A test-negative design study based on Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) sentinel surveillance in Spain
Background: With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, influenza surveillance systems in Spain were transformed into a new syndromic sentinel surveillance system. The Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance System (SiVIRA in Spanish) is based on a sentinel network for acute respiratory infection (ARI) surv...
Estimation of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation in individuals aged ≥ 65 years using electronic health registries; a pilot study in four EU/EEA countries, October 2021 to March 2022
By employing a common protocol and data from electronic health registries in Denmark, Navarre (Spain), Norway and Portugal, we estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) against hospitalisation due to COVID-19 in individuals aged ≥ 65 years old, without previous documented infection, between October 2021...
Rapidly adapting primary care sentinel surveillance across seven countries in Europe for COVID-19 in the first half of 2020: strengths, challenges, and lessons learned
As the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, primary care influenza sentinel surveillance networks within the Influenza - Monitoring Vaccine Effectiveness in Europe (I-MOVE) consortium rapidly adapted to COVID-19 surveillance. This study maps system adaptations and lessons learned about aligning i...
Association between heavy metals and metalloids in topsoil and mental health in the adult population of Spain
Background and objectives: Despite the biological plausibility of the association between heavy metal exposure and mental health disorders, epidemiological evidence remains scarce. The objective was to estimate the association between heavy metals and metalloids in soil and the prevalence of mental...
A systematic review of environmental factors related to WNV circulation in European and Mediterranean countries
Introduction/objective: West Nile virus (WNV) is one of the most widely distributed flaviviruses worldwide. It is considered an endemic and emerging pathogen in different areas of the Europe and Mediterranean countries (MR). Mosquitoes of the genus Culex spp. are the main vectors, and birds its mai...
Comparison of 8 weeks standard treatment (rifampicin plus clarithromycin) vs. 4 weeks standard plus amoxicillin/clavulanate treatment [RC8 vs. RCA4] to shorten Buruli ulcer disease therapy (the BLMs4BU trial): study protocol for a randomized controlled multi-centre trial in Benin
Background: Buruli ulcer (BU) is a neglected tropical disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans that affects skin, soft tissues, and bones, causing long-term morbidity, stigma, and disability. The recommended treatment for BU requires 8 weeks of daily rifampicin and clarithromycin together with woun...