0000000000413651
AUTHOR
Frank Kowalzik
showing 11 related works from this author
Disease Burden of Rotavirus Gastroenteritis in Children Residing in Germany: A Retrospective, Hospital-based Surveillance.
2015
Background Representative, population-based epidemiologic data for gastroenteritis caused by rotavirus (RV) are rare. RV vaccines were first licensed in Europe in 2006 and recommended in 5 western federal states in 2008 or thereafter. This study establishes a baseline for assessing the impact of vaccination and delineates the RV disease burden in Germany today. Methods Nationwide data obtained from hospitals for children 0 to 10 years of age and transferred to the Federal Statistical Office were analyzed retrospectively. Acute gastroenteritis cases because of RV were identified by the International Classification of Diseases code (ICD-10) combined with the referring diagnosis-related group …
Containment of a Large SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak Among Healthcare Workers in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
2020
Objective Healthcare workers (HCWs) are particularly exposed SARS-CoV-2 because they are critical in preventing viral transmission and treating COVID-19 patients. Within HCWs, personnel of intensive care units (ICUs) are at the forefront of treating patients with a severe course of COVID-19 infection and therefore represent an extremely vulnerable group. Thus, our objective is to contribute to establish means of infection control protecting HCWs in the frontline of the current pandemic. Design An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 was detected and contained in a pediatric ICU (PICU). The first positive case was identified with a point-of-care diagnostic system on site. Real-time PCR-based testing syste…
NOROVIRUS GASTROENTERITIS IS AN IMPORTANT CAUSE OF NOSOCOMIAL INFECTIONS IN GERMANY
2017
Noroviruses are the most important global cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE). Testing for norovirus in patients hospitalized with AGE is incentivized in Germany because a positive diagnosis impacts reimbursement. We estimated the number of nosocomial infections overall and by age-group for norovirus gastroenteritis (NGE) using federal German databases. All hospitalizations in Germany are registered with the German Federal Statistics Office (DESTATIS). We extracted aggregate data for patients hospitalized with NGE (ICD-10 codes A08.1) as primary or non-primary diagnosis for the period 2007–2012. Cases with a non-primary diagnoses were assumed to be due to nosocomial infection.
Comparative effects of carrier proteins on vaccine-induced immune response
2011
The efficacy of vaccines against major encapsulated bacterial pathogens -Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) - has been significantly enhanced by conjugating the respective polysaccharides with different carrier proteins: diphtheria toxoid; non-toxic cross-reactive material of diphtheria toxin(197), tetanus toxoid, N. meningitidis outer membrane protein, and non-typeable H. influenzae-derived protein D. Hib, meningococcal, and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have shown good safety and immunogenicity profiles regardless of the carrier protein used, although data are conflicting as to which carrier protein is the most immunogenic. Coadmini…
The burden of norovirus disease in children in the European Union.
2015
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MMR and MMRV vaccines.
2018
Measles, mumps, rubella and varicella are viral infections which can implicate seriously long-term sequelae of infected individuals or even the unborn child. Vaccines against the individual diseases have long been available. Global measles vaccination is estimated to have prevented more than 20million deaths during 2000-2015. During the same time period, measles incidence decreased from 146 to 36 cases per million populations. Today vaccinations against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella are now carried out mainly with combination vaccines. These are today known as immunogenic and safe. MMRV had similar immunogenicity and overall safety profiles to MMR administered with or without varice…
Sirolimus treatment of severe PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome: case report and in vitro studies
2013
Background: Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) hamartoma tumor syndrome (PHTS) is caused by germ line mutations in the PTEN gene. Symptoms include cancer pre- disposition, immune deviations, and lipomas/lipomatosis. No causal standard therapy is available. We describe a therapeutic attempt with the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor sirolimus for a PHTS patient suffering from thymus hyperplasia and lipomatosis. We furthermore assessed the in vitro effects of sirolimus and other inhibitors on lipoma cells of the patient. Methods: The patient underwent clinical and blood examinations and whole-body magnetic resonance imaging to assess tumor sizes. Lipoma cells of the patient we…
mRNA-Based Vaccines
2021
Increases in the world’s population and population density promote the spread of emerging pathogens. Vaccines are the most cost-effective means of preventing this spread. Traditional methods used to identify and produce new vaccines are not adequate, in most instances, to ensure global protection. New technologies are urgently needed to expedite large scale vaccine development. mRNA-based vaccines promise to meet this need. mRNA-based vaccines exhibit a number of potential advantages relative to conventional vaccines, namely they (1) involve neither infectious elements nor a risk of stable integration into the host cell genome; (2) generate humoral and cell-mediated immunity; (3) are well-t…
Risk of febrile convulsions after MMRV vaccination in comparison to MMR or MMR+V vaccination.
2014
Abstract Background In July 2006, Priorix-Tetra™, a combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) vaccine, was licensed in Germany. Since a postlicensure study had shown a more than twofold elevated risk of febrile convulsions (FC) after first dose vaccination with the combined MMRV vaccine ProQuad ® compared to separately administered MMR and V vaccines (MMR+V), the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute, the German regulatory agency for vaccine licensing and safety, requested a study investigating the risk of FC for Priorix-Tetra™. Methods We performed a matched cohort study based on claims data of more than 17 million insurees in the German Pharmacoepidemiological Research Database. All children born …
The BioFireFilmArray enables point of care diagnostic in neonatal parechovirus meningitis.
2017
Sir,We read with great interest a report in the present journal on the application of broad-range PCR combined with DNA sequencing for detection of bacteria in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) [1]. This m...
Prospective Multinational Study of Pertussis Infection in Hospitalized Infants and Their Household Contacts
2007
Increased incidence of pertussis has been noted among infants too young to be immunized. We studied the disease burden of pertussis in pediatric intensive care units and the source of infection in several Asian, European and Latin American countries.The study was conducted in 7 countries from September 2001 to January 2004. Children1 year of age were enrolled from pediatric intensive care units (PICU) and pediatric wards if they presented with respiratory failure, apnea, bradycardia, or cough accompanied by paroxysms, vomiting, whoop or cyanosis. Household members of pertussis-positive index cases were asked to answer a questionnaire and provide diagnostic specimens.Pertussis was confirmed …