Rotavirus (RV) is a leading cause of severe diarrhea among children under five years of age in China. In this meta-analysis, we assessed the disease burden of RV-related diarrhea by analyzing 73 studies retrieved from the PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases (2013-2023). The incidence of RV-related diarrhea ranged from 0.637 /1000 to 31.46/1000 persons. The pooled RV positivity rate for the under-5 age group was 24.7% (95% confidence interval: 22.1-27.4), with higher positivity rates observed among inpatients compared to outpatients (24.1% vs. 22.2%). Notably, the RV positivity rate declined from 27.3 to 21.5% pre- and post- the RotaTeq® licensure and 28.8-22.5% following the COVID-19 pandemic. The G9P[8] genotype was predominant, accounting for 71.7% of the RV cases in the under-5 age group. Given the dynamic nature of the incidence rate of RV-related diarrhea and the prevalence of the G9P[8] genotype, it is imperative to enhance surveillance efforts targeting incidence of RV-related diarrhea and the circulating genotypes of rotavirus.

This study aimed to investigate the epidemiology, seasonal trends, and clinical characteristics of Campylobacter and Salmonella infections in children hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in Northeastern Poland from 2020 to 2023. The research sought to address the scarcity of localized data on these bacterial pathogens and identify key clinical and demographic markers to improve diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. A retrospective analysis was conducted on medical records of children aged 0-17 years hospitalized at the Bialystok Children's Clinical Hospital. Stool samples were systematically collected and tested for bacterial pathogens following World Health Organization guidelines. Confirmed cases of Campylobacter and Salmonella infections were analyzed for demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics. Among 3,392 hospitalized children with acute gastroenteritis, bacterial pathogens were identified in 560 cases, with Campylobacter (33%) and Salmonella (32%) being the most common. A slight male predominance was noted across both pathogens. Salmonella infections were associated with significantly greater clinical severity, characterized by longer duration of diarrhea, higher frequency of vomiting, more persistent fever, greater dehydration, notably elevated inflammatory markers and longer hospital stays compared to Campylobacter. Campylobacter was notably more prevalent among children younger than 2 years. Seasonal peaks for both pathogens consistently occurred during the summer months.

Campylobacter and Salmonella are significant contributors to bacterial AGE in children, with distinct clinical and demographic profiles. Public health measures and enhanced diagnostics are critical to reducing the burden of these infections, particularly among younger and vulnerable children.

• Campylobacter and Salmonella are leading causes of pediatric gastroenteritis globally, with seasonal variation and clinical severity differences.

• In Northeastern Poland, Campylobacter and Salmonella cause similar numbers of pediatric AGE hospitalizations, despite official reports suggesting low Campylobacter incidence. • Salmonella infections are significantly more severe clinically, yet Campylobacter infections commonly affect children of all ages, including infants as young as 2 months.

Lyme disease (LD) is a major public health problem in Europe and the United States, with increasing incidence and not many prevention options. Vaccine hesitancy might be a significant barrier to successful vaccination campaigns having in mind previous vaccine development failures. This study aimed to evaluate the public's perception of LD vaccination in Poland, assess willingness to vaccinate, and identify factors influencing vaccination attitudes.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among parents of children hospitalized at the University Children's Hospital in Bialystok, Poland. The survey consisted of 29 questions regarding demographics, LD knowledge, vaccine attitudes, and perceived risks. Data were collected between January and December 2023 and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics to identify predictors of respondents' positive vaccination attitudes.

A total of 503 valid responses were analyzed. Most respondents (72.4%) showed positive attitudes towards vaccination, while 18.5% were neutral and 9.1% were negative. Trust in health experts emerged as an important predictor of vaccination acceptance (OR 22.84; p < 0.001). More than 80% of participants recognized an LD vaccine as necessary, and 64.21% believed it would reduce their concerns about LD. Willingness to vaccinate was influenced by general positive vaccine attitudes, recognized danger of LD, and belief in the vaccine's ability to ease fears. Notably, 40.8% of respondents were uncertain about vaccine risks, with this group tending to be younger, less educated, and expressing lower trust in medical professionals.

Public perception of LD in Poland indicates a high acceptance of a potential LD vaccine. Still, addressing vaccine hesitancy remains critical, particularly among undecided or neutral respondents. Building trust in healthcare professionals and addressing safety worries are important to increasing future LD vaccine use.

The COVID-19 pandemic altered the pattern of many paediatric infections. We aimed to assess the incidence and characteristics of children hospitalised with gastroenteritis during the early and the late pandemic, relative to previous years.

In a retrospective study, we collected data from patient files of children aged 1 month to 5 years, admitted with gastroenteritis to a paediatric department in Denmark during January-June, of 2017 to 2021, comparing incidence rates and clinical features in the early pandemic (March to June 2020), and late pandemic period (January to June 2021), to similar pre-pandemic months.

In the early pandemic, admission rates per 1000 children/month declined to 0.5 (95% CI: 0.3-0.6) from pre-pandemic rates of 1.6 (95% CI: 1.4-1.7) (p < 0.0001) and increased in the late pandemic to 2.2 (95% CI: 1.9-2.6) (p = 0.006). Children admitted in the late pandemic period were older than those admitted previously.

A resurgence of gastroenteritis in children occurred in the spring of 2021, with higher hospital admission rates of children, who were older, but not more severely ill than previously.

Rotavirus is globally recognized as an important cause of acute gastroenteritis in young children. Whereas previous studies focused more on sporadic diarrhea, the epidemiological characteristics of rotavirus outbreaks have not been systematically understood.

This systematic review was carried out according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis standards, WANFANG, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), PubMed, and Web of Science databases were searched from database inception to February 20, 2022. We used SPSS 21.0 statistical software for data analysis, RStudio1.4.1717, and ArcGIS trial version for plotting bar graphs and maps.

Among 1,596 articles, 78 were included, with 92 rotavirus outbreaks and 96,128 cases. Most outbreaks (67.39%, 62/92) occurred in winter and spring. The number of rotavirus outbreaks reported in the eastern region was more than that in the western region. Outbreaks were most commonly reported in villages (33/92, 35.87%), followed by hospitals (19, 20.65%). The outbreak duration was longer in factories and workers' living places, and villages, while it was shorter in hospitals. Waterborne transmission was the main transmission mode, with the longest duration and the largest number of cases. Rotavirus groups were identified in 66 outbreaks, with 40 outbreaks (60.61%) caused by Group B rotaviruses and 26 outbreaks (39.39%) caused by Group A rotaviruses. Significant differences were found in duration, number of cases, settings, population distribution, and transmission modes between Groups A and B rotavirus outbreaks.

Rotavirus is an important cause of acute gastroenteritis outbreaks in China. It should also be considered in the investigation of acute gastroenteritis outbreaks, especially norovirus-negative outbreaks.

Rotavirus is the most common cause of gastroenteritis among children. Currently, four oral live-attenuated vaccines are available to prevent rotavirus infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended including rotavirus vaccination in national immunization programs; however, it has not been introduced to the Iranian national immunization program. The study aimed to assess the frequency of rotavirus gastroenteritis in the west of Iran and investigate the necessity of rotavirus vaccination. Study Design: A case series study.

In this case series study, 284 cases under six years of age who presented with acute gastroenteritis from March 2021 to 2022 to a referral hospital in the west of Iran were evaluated. Data on baseline characteristics, clinical manifestations, results of stool test, ELISA for rotavirus detection, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for genotyping of rotavirus-positive samples were recorded.

Results showed that the prevalence of rotavirus infection was 36.6%. The highest frequency was observed among children aged 6-12 months and during the autumn. According to the PCR results, G1P[8], G9P[8], G9P[4], and G1P [4] were the dominant genotypes, and 33.75% of samples were infected with multiple rotavirus genotypes.

The study highlights the considerable prevalence of rotavirus infection among cases of acute gastroenteritis in children under six years of age who were referred to a referral hospital in the west of Iran and the high diversity of rotavirus genotypes in the targeted community. Consequently, physicians and health policymakers should prioritize strategies for the prevention and control of this infection, particularly by considering the rotavirus vaccine as a priority for the Iranian national immunization program.

Understanding how the infectious disease burden was affected throughout the COVID-19 pandemic is pivotal to identifying potential hot spots and guiding future mitigation measures. Therefore, our study aimed to analyze the changes in the rate of new cases of Poland's most frequent infectious diseases during the entire COVID-19 pandemic and after the influx of war refugees from Ukraine. We performed a registry-based population-wide study in Poland to analyze the changes in the rate of 24 infectious disease cases from 2020 to 2023 and compared them to the prepandemic period (2016-2019). Data were collected from publicly archived datasets of the Epimeld database published by national epidemiological authority institutions. The rate of most of the studied diseases (66.6%) revealed significantly negative correlations with the rate of SARS-CoV-2 infections. For the majority of infectious diseases, it substantially decreased in 2020 (in case of 83%) and 2021 (63%), following which it mostly rebounded to the prepandemic levels and, in some cases, exceeded them in 2023 when the exceptionally high annual rates of new cases of scarlet fever, Streptococcus pneumoniae infections, HIV infections, syphilis, gonococcal infections, and tick-borne encephalitis were noted. The rate of Clostridioides difficile enterocolitis was two-fold higher than before the pandemic from 2021 onward. The rate of Legionnaires' disease in 2023 also exceeded the prepandemic threshold, although this was due to a local outbreak unrelated to lifted COVID-19 pandemic restrictions or migration of war refugees. The influx of war migrants from Ukraine could impact the epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases. The present analysis indicates that continued efforts are needed to prevent COVID-19 from overwhelming healthcare systems again and decreasing the control over the burden of other infectious diseases. It also identifies the potential tipping points that require additional mitigation measures, which are also discussed in the paper, to avoid escalation in the future.

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine in 2022 led to a massive migration of refugees to Poland. Immigrant children, living in overcrowded humanitarian hubs, were exposed to multiple stressful factors likely affecting their immune systems. This case series study aimed to describe a particularly severe course of common viral infections, in Ukrainian refugee children. We present 2 case series of Ukrainian refugee children: 5 hospitalized due to either adenovirus (AdV) and 8 with rotavirus (RV) infection, admitted within 3 months in each case series, recruited retrospectively. Most patients lived in humanitarian hubs and were neglected on admission (dehydrated, with poor hygiene and anxious). All RV infection cases had symptoms of severe gastroenteritis requiring intravenous rehydration. Metabolic acidosis was present in 6 children, and hypoglycemia in 4 participants. None of them were vaccinated against RV. All children with AdV infection had prolonged fever, dyspnea requiring oxygen therapy and hyperinflammation. In 2 AdV infection cases with no clinical improvement and increasing inflammatory markers, intravenous immunoglobulins and glucocorticosteroids were used. The combination of stressful factors and living in overcrowded hubs during the high prevalence of viral infections led to a particularly severe course of viral infections in Ukrainian refugee children.

The non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented to curb the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) early in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, substantially disrupted the activity of other respiratory viruses. However, there is limited data from low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) to determine whether these NPIs also impacted the transmission of common enteric viruses. Here, we investigated the changes in the positivity rate of five enteric viruses among hospitalised children who presented with diarrhoea to a referral hospital in coastal Kenya, during COVID-19 pandemic period.

A total of 870 stool samples from children under 13 years of age admitted to Kilifi County Hospital between January 2019, and December 2022 were screened for rotavirus group A (RVA), norovirus genogroup II (GII), astrovirus, sapovirus, and adenovirus type F40/41 using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. The proportions positive across the four years were compared using the chi-squared test statistic.

One or more of the five virus targets were detected in 282 (32.4%) cases. A reduction in the positivity rate of RVA cases was observed from 2019 (12.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 8.7-16.2%) to 2020 (1.7%, 95% CI 0.2-6.0%; p < 0.001). However, in the 2022, RVA positivity rate rebounded to 23.5% (95% CI 18.2%-29.4%). For norovirus GII, the positivity rate fluctuated over the four years with its highest positivity rate observed in 2020 (16.2%; 95% C.I, 10.0-24.1%). No astrovirus cases were detected in 2020 and 2021, but the positivity rate in 2022 was similar to that in 2019 (3.1% (95% CI 1.5%-5.7%) vs. 3.3% (95% CI 1.4-6.5%)). A higher case fatality rate was observed in 2021 (9.0%) compared to the 2019 (3.2%), 2020 (6.8%) and 2022 (2.1%) (p < 0.001).

Our study finds that in 2020 the transmission of common enteric viruses, especially RVA and astrovirus, in Kilifi Kenya may have been disrupted due to the COVID-19 NPIs. After 2020, local enteric virus transmission patterns appeared to return to pre-pandemic levels coinciding with the removal of most of the government COVID-19 NPIs.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) leads to diseases of the skin and mucous membranes of the anogenital and upper gastrointestinal tract, especially neoplasia. HPV vaccinations effectively protect against the development of HPV-related diseases. However, despite the wide availability of vaccination for patients, only a few percent of Polish children are vaccinated. The reasons for this are certainly complex. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate gynecologists' and general practitioners' knowledge, awareness and attitudes towards HPV vaccination and analyze their opinions about the interest in HPV vaccinations among children and parents. An anonymous, voluntary, cross-sectional survey study was conducted among 300 Polish gynecologists and general practitioners. Participants were from a diverse group with a wide range of work experience and different workplaces. Most of the respondents (83%), especially the gynecologists (p = 0.03), declared informing and discussing with parents the HPV-related diseases and prevention methods. Only 8% of the participants reported a negative reaction from parents when talking about HPV vaccines. However, in practice, physicians very rarely recommend this vaccine. HPV vaccination was recommended more often by female physicians (p = 0.03), general practitioners (p < 0.001), physicians working over five years (p < 0.001), doctors who regularly vaccinated themselves against influenza (p = 0.01) and those who vaccinated their children against HPV (p =0.001). The availability of educational materials for parents and/or patients encouraged physicians to provide this information (p < 0.001). Polish gynecologists and general practitioners declared a positive attitude regarding HPV vaccines; however, they rarely recommended this vaccine. Physicians who vaccinate themselves against influenza and their own children against HPV are more likely to provide information and encourage HPV vaccination in others. Additionally, the availability of educational material for parents and adolescents plays an essential role in the popularization of this vaccination. Knowledge alone is not enough for physicians to recommend the vaccination to patients.

The general interest in the study of the interplay between peroxisomes and viruses has increased in recent years, with different reports demonstrating that distinct viruses modulate peroxisome-related mechanisms to either counteract the cellular antiviral response or support viral propagation. Nevertheless, mechanistical details are still scarce, and information is often incomplete. In this chapter, we present an overview of the current knowledge concerning the interplay between peroxisomes and different viruses. We furthermore present, compare, and discuss the most relevant experimental approaches and tools used in the different studies. Finally, we stress the importance of further, more detailed, and spatial-temporal analyses that encompass all the different phases of the viruses' infection cycles. These studies may lead to the discovery of novel peroxisome-related cellular mechanisms that can further be explored as targets for the development of novel antiviral therapies.