The burden and epidemiology of community-acquired central nervous system infections: a multinational study

WOS: 000407582200010PubMed ID: 28397100Risk assessment of central nervous system (CNS) infection patients is of key importance in predicting likely pathogens. However, data are lacking on the epidemiology globally. We performed a multicenter study to understand the burden of community-acquired CNS (CA-CNS) infections between 2012 and 2014. A total of 2583 patients with CA-CNS infections were included from 37 referral centers in 20 countries. Of these, 477 (18.5%) patients survived with sequelae and 227 (8.8%) died, and 1879 (72.7%) patients were discharged with complete cure. The most frequent infecting pathogens in this study were Streptococcus pneumoniae (n = 206, 8%) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (n = 152, 5.9%). Varicella zoster virus and Listeria were other common pathogens in the elderly. Although staphylococci and Listeria resulted in frequent infections in immunocompromised patients, cryptococci were leading pathogens in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive individuals. Among the patients with any proven etiology, 96 (8.9%) patients presented with clinical features of a chronic CNS disease. Neurosyphilis, neurobrucellosis, neuroborreliosis, and CNS tuberculosis had a predilection to present chronic courses. Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, M. tuberculosis, and S. pneumoniae were the most fatal forms, while sequelae were significantly higher for herpes simplex virus type 1 (p < 0.05 for all). Tackling the high burden of CNS infections globally can only be achieved with effective pneumococcal immunization and strategies to eliminate tuberculosis, and more must be done to improve diagnostic capacity

Content analysis of EU Local Climate Adaptation Plans and Strategies

This dataset contains information on the characteristics of Local Climate Adaptation Plans in Europe. A sample of 328 medium- to large-sized cities across the formerly EU-28 was investigated for the availability of Local Climate Plans and strategies on climate change adaptation. A set of 168 cities out of the 328 were identified to have at least one, if not more Local Climate Adaptation Plans. The contents of these plans were documented, using an elaborated framework combining indicators of state-of-the -art plan quality principles with indicators of justice/ equity theory. Used common plan quality principles are 1) Fact base - Climate change impact, risk and vulnerability assessment (related to risk, sectors, justice), 2) Adaptation goals (related to risk, quantitative); 3) Adaptation measures (distributed across 12 sectors, justice); 4) Implementation process (prioritization, responsibility, timeframe) &amp; tools (budget); 5) Monitoring &amp; evaluation (responsibility, timeframe, justice). Additionally to the information on these 5 plan quality principles information on the (potential) participation process, a communication strategy, the national and regional context, as well as with access information, access data, access type, and other meta data were retrieved and documented. The publication dates of the plans range from 2005 - 2020. The collection period ranges from March 2019 to June 2021, depending on the country and city, with the majority collected between May 2019 and June 2020