Infection control and prevention of communicable disease

Introduction

Transmission of microorganisms and infectious diseases constitutes a serious threat to public health. The research areas of the team members include “Infection control and prevention in healthcare” and “Surveillance, outbreak investigation, vaccine strategies, and follow up of communicable diseases”.

 

Major research focus

  • Effectiveness and epidemiological consequences of implementation of two new vaccines in the child health vaccination program in Stockholm County – pneumococcal vaccine (2007) and Rotavirus vaccine (2014)
  • Development of methods for estimation of influenza vaccine effectiveness in real-time.
  • Prevention of surgical site infections with focus on the effect of ventilation and clothing systems on dispersal of microorganisms from staff in the operating room
  • Surveillance of health care associated infections
  • How antibiotic-resistant bacteria affects different groups among the Swedish population – citizens, patients and healthcare staff
  • Transmission pattern of HIV among persons injecting drugs
  • Epidemiological surveillance of HIV based on anonymous reporting
  • Outbreak investigation of TB in congregate settings
  • Outcome of existing screening programs for communicable diseases in migrants and pregnant women.

Team members

Åke Örtqvist, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Team Leader

Per Follin, MD, PhD, Associate Professor

Ann Tammelin, MD, PhD

Maria-Pia Hergens, Affiliated

Susanne Wiklund, RN, MPH, PhD

Maria Rotzén Östlund, MD, PhD

Aysel Kulbay, RN, PhD student

Key Publications

Mid-season real-time estimates of seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness in persons 65 years and older in register-based surveillance, Stockholm County, Sweden, and Finland, January 2017.
Hergens MP, Baum U, Brytting M, Ikonen N, Haveri A, Wiman Å, et al
Euro Surveill. 2017 Feb;22(8):

Neurological and autoimmune disorders after vaccination against pandemic influenza A (H1N1) with a monovalent adjuvanted vaccine: population based cohort study in Stockholm, Sweden.
Bardage C, Persson I, Ortqvist A, Bergman U, Ludvigsson JF, Granath F
BMJ 2011 Oct;343():d5956

Associations of age and sex with the clinical outcome and incubation period of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O104:H4 infections, 2011.
Werber D, King LA, Müller L, Follin P, Buchholz U, Bernard H, et al
Am. J. Epidemiol. 2013 Sep;178(6):984-92

Epidemic profile of Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreak in Germany.
Frank C, Werber D, Cramer JP, Askar M, Faber M, an der Heiden M, et al
N. Engl. J. Med. 2011 Nov;365(19):1771-80

Comparison of two single-use scrub suits in terms of effect on air-borne bacteria in the operating room.
Tammelin A, Blomfeldt AM
J. Hosp. Infect. 2017 Mar;95(3):324-326

Point-prevalence surveillance of healthcare-associated infections in Swedish hospitals, 2008-2014. Description of the method and reliability of results.
Tammelin A, Qvarfordt I
J. Hosp. Infect. 2015 Nov;91(3):220-4

Comparison between RFLP and MIRU-VNTR genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated in Stockholm 2009 to 2011.
Jonsson J, Hoffner S, Berggren I, Bruchfeld J, Ghebremichael S, Pennhag A, et al
PLoS ONE 2014 ;9(4):e95159

Extensive nosocomial transmission of tuberculosis in a low-incidence country.
Jonsson J, Kan B, Berggren I, Bruchfeld J
J. Hosp. Infect. 2013 Apr;83(4):321-6

Staff experiences of caring for patients with extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing bacteria: A qualitative study.
Wiklund S, Fagerberg I, Örtqvist Å, Broliden K, Tammelin A
Am J Infect Control 2015 Dec;43(12):1302-9