Purpose: To quantify the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in students and teachers in 14 Secondary schools in eastern Saxony, Germany. Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in study population. Number of undetected cases. - Methods: Serial seroprevalence study. - Results: The role of educational settings in the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic is still controversial. Seroprevalence increases from 0.8 to 5.9% from October to December when schools remained open and to 12.2% in March/April during a strict lockdown with closed schools. The ratio of undetected to detected cases decreased from 0.76 to 0.44 during the study period. - Conclusion: During the second and third wave of the pandemic in Germany, students and teachers are not overrepresented in SARS-CoV-2 infections. The percentage of undetected cases is moderate and decreases over time. The risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 within the household is higher than contracting it in educational settings making school closures rather ineffective in terms of pandemic control measures or individual risk reduction in children and adolescents. - Trial registration: DRKS00022455 (July 23rd, 2020).

The outbreak of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019 in Wuhan challenges pediatric oncologists in an unexpected way. We provide a comprehensive overview, which systematically summarizes and grades evidence (QoE) on SARS-CoV-2 infections in pediatric cancer patients at 1.5 years of pandemic. A systematic literature search in PubMed combined with an additional exploratory literature review in other international databases was conducted to identify studies on children (aged < 18 years) with a malignant disease and COVID-19 infections. In total, 45 reports on 1003 pediatric cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 infections were identified out of 1397 reports analyzed. The clinical course of COVID-19 was reported mild or moderate in 358 patients (41.7%), whereas 11.1% of patients showed severe COVID-19. In 12.7% of patients, chemotherapy was postponed, whereas 19% of patients with different underlying malignancies received chemotherapy during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Twenty-five patients with SARS-CoV-2 infections died, potentially related to COVID-19. Conclusion: Despite a favorable COVID-19 outcome in most pediatric cancer patients, the morbidity is reported higher than in children without comorbidities. However, no severe COVID-19 complications were associated to the continuation of chemotherapy in some cohort studies and reports on two patients. Therefore, the risk of cancer progress or relapse due to interruption of chemotherapy has carefully to be weighed against the risk of severe COVID-19 disease with potentially fatal outcome.

Wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 has been demonstrated to be a valuable tool in monitoring community-level virus circulation and assessing new outbreaks. It may become a useful tool in the early detection and response to future pandemics, enabling public health authorities to implement timely interventions and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases with the fecal excretion of their agents. It also offers a chance for cost-effective surveillance. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RTqPCR) is the most commonly used method for viral RNA detection in wastewater due to its sensitivity, reliability, and widespread availability. However, recent studies have indicated that reverse transcription droplet digital PCR (RTddPCR) has the potential to offer improved sensitivity and accuracy for quantifying SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater samples. In this study, we compared the performance of RTqPCR and RTddPCR approaches for SARS-CoV-2 detection and quantification on wastewater samples collected during the third epidemic wave in Saxony, Germany, characterized by low-incidence infection periods. The determined limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were within the same order of magnitude, and no significant differences were observed between the PCR approaches with respect to the number of positive or quantifiable samples. Our results indicate that both RTqPCR and RTddPCR are highly sensitive methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2. Consequently, the actual gain in sensitivity associated with ddPCR lags behind theoretical expectations. Hence, the choice between the two PCR methods in further environmental surveillance programs is rather a matter of available resources and throughput requirements.

År 2020 slog coronapandemin till mot världen med full kraft, orsakad avviruset SARS-CoV-2. Nyheter och information om pandemins utvecklingpräglade informationsflödet tillsammans med åtskilliga visuella elementmed informativa syften. Antal insjuknade i sjukdomen COVID-19 samtett snabbt växande antal dödsfall i kombination med nyheter om ensjukvård nära bristningsgränsen rapporterades kontinuerligt i olikainformationskanaler. En bild som ofta förekom tillsammans medinformation om pandemin var en 3D-gestaltning gjord av två grafiskaformgivare på uppdrag av amerikanska Centers for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC). Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hurett urval mottagare upplevde CDC´s 3D-gestaltning av viruset SARS-CoV-2. Metod: Metoden som användes för studien var semiotiskbildanalys där den denotativa nivån undersöktes objektivt med hjälp avanpassade frågor och den konnotativa nivån byggde på intervjuer medelva respondenter. Resultat: Ur intervjuerna framkom både ikoniska- ochsymboliska tecken som främst indexerade negativa upplevelser hosrespondenterna, kopplade till både personliga- och samhälleligaperspektiv.

Boletín que incluye información científica sobre el COVID-19, incluye artículos científicos y artículos preprint actualizados al 25 de Mayo de 2020.

Boletín que incluye información científica sobre el COVID-19, incluye artículos científicos y artículos preprint actualizados al 22 de Mayo de 2020.

Boletín que incluye información científica sobre el COVID-19, incluye artículos científicos y artículos preprint actualizados al 26 de Mayo de 2020.

Boletín que incluye información científica sobre el COVID-19, incluye artículos científicos y artículos preprint actualizados al 29 de Mayo de 2020.

Boletín que incluye información científica sobre el COVID-19, incluye artículos científicos y artículos preprint actualizados al 21 de Mayo de 2020.

Boletín que incluye información científica sobre el COVID-19, incluye artículos científicos y artículos preprint actualizados al 08 de Junio de 2020.