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Background: The emergence of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in early 2020 and subsequent implementation of public health and social measures (PHSM) disrupted the epidemiology of respiratory viruses. This work describes the epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) observed during two winter seasons (weeks 40-20) and inter-seasonal periods (weeks 21-39) during the pandemic between October 2020 and September 2022., Methods: Using data submitted to The European Surveillance System (TESSy) by countries or territories in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region between weeks 40/2020 and 39/2022, we aggregated country-specific weekly RSV counts of sentinel, non-sentinel and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) surveillance specimens and calculated percentage positivity. Results for both 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons and inter-seasons were compared with pre-pandemic 2016/17 to 2019/20 seasons and inter-seasons., Results: Although more specimens were tested than in pre-COVID-19 pandemic seasons, very few RSV detections were reported during the 2020/21 season in all surveillance systems. During the 2021 inter-season, a gradual increase in detections was observed in all systems. In 2021/22, all systems saw early peaks of RSV infection, and during the 2022 inter-seasonal period, patterns of detections were closer to those seen before the COVID-19 pandemic., Conclusion: RSV surveillance continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with an initial reduction in transmission, followed by very high and out-of-season RSV circulation (summer 2021) and then an early start of the 2021/22 season. As of the 2022/23 season, RSV circulation had not yet normalised., Competing Interests: The following authors declare having received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI): Adam Meijer (The Netherlands) and Anne Teirlinck (The Netherlands). All other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (© 2023 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Based on our national outpatient sentinel surveillance, we have developed a novel approach to determine respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) epidemic seasons in Germany by using RSV positivity rate and its lower limit of 95% confidence interval. This method was evaluated retrospectively on nine RSV seasons, and it is also well-suited to describe off-season circulation of RSV in near real time as observed for seasons 2020/21 and 2021/22 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospective application is of crucial importance to enable timely actions for health service delivery and prevention., (© 2022 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Studies have shown that the predictive value of "clinical diagnoses" of influenza and other respiratory viral infections is low, especially in children. In routine care, pediatricians often resort to clinical diagnoses, even in the absence of robust evidence-based criteria. We used a dual approach to identify clinical characteristics that may help to differentiate infections with common pathogens including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, metapneumovirus, rhinovirus, bocavirus-1, coronaviruses, or parainfluenza virus: (a) systematic review and meta-analysis of 47 clinical studies published in Medline (June 1996 to March 2017, PROSPERO registration number: CRD42017059557) comprising 49 858 individuals and (b) data-driven analysis of an inception cohort of 6073 children with ILI (aged 0-18 years, 56% male, December 2009 to March 2015) examined at the point of care in addition to blinded PCR testing. We determined pooled odds ratios for the literature analysis and compared these to odds ratios based on the clinical cohort dataset. This combined analysis suggested significant associations between influenza and fever or headache, as well as between respiratory syncytial virus infection and cough, dyspnea, and wheezing. Similarly, literature and cohort data agreed on significant associations between HMPV infection and cough, as well as adenovirus infection and fever. Importantly, none of the abovementioned features were unique to any particular pathogen but were also observed in association with other respiratory viruses. In summary, our "real-world" dataset confirmed published literature trends, but no individual feature allows any particular type of viral infection to be ruled in or ruled out. For the time being, laboratory confirmation remains essential. More research is needed to develop scientifically validated decision models to inform best practice guidelines and targeted diagnostic algorithms., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Aims: In this randomized, double-blind clinical study, we investigated the relationship between autoantibodies against cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and disease severity in elderly congestive heart failure (CHF) patients before and after titration of beta-blocker therapy., Methods and Results: Anti-cTnI, cTnI, and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels in blood from 138 patients (73 +/- 5.6 years, 48% male) with CHF in American Heart Association stages A-C were measured at baseline and after titration of beta-blockers to maximal tolerated dose. Median follow-up period was 85 days. Anti-cTnI was measured using an experimental assay (Abbott Diagnostics) and is expressed as a relative value unit (RVU) in relation to the mean value of a low-level control sample. Anti-cTnI values in CHF patients were also compared with measurements taken in a normal reference population of 300 healthy individuals (50% male). Cardiac troponin I and NT-proBNP levels were measured using routine assays (Architect Abbott Diagnostics and Roche Diagnostics). Median anti-cTnI was 0.53 and 0.56 RVU in healthy and CHF subjects, respectively (P = n.s.), and increased significantly to 0.67 RVU (P < 0.001) after beta-blocker titration. Mean cTnI values were 0.021 microg/L at baseline and fell significantly to 0.0046 microg/L at follow-up (P < 0.001). Median NT-proBNP values were 352 ng/L at baseline and 414 ng/L after titration (P = n.s.). In contrast to NT-proBNP and cTnI, anti-cTnI was not associated with the severity of CHF at baseline or follow-up., Conclusion: Levels of anti-cTnI tend to increase in elderly patients with CHF following titration of beta-blocker therapy but do not correlate with disease severity. Anti-cTnI is not a useful biomarker for heart failure diagnosis, prognosis, or monitoring. In contrast, levels of cTnI decreased following therapy and did correlate with disease severity.