Reduced risk of hospitalisation among reported COVID-19 cases infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 variant compared with the Delta variant, Norway, December 2021 to January 2022

We included 39,524 COVID-19 Omicron and 51,481 Delta cases reported in Norway from December 2021 to January 2022. We estimated a 73% reduced risk of hospitalisation (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.27; 95% confidence interval: 0.20–0.36) for Omicron compared with Delta. Compared with unvaccinated groups, Omicron cases who had completed primary two-dose vaccination 7–179 days before diagnosis had a lower reduced risk than Delta (66% vs 93%). People vaccinated with three doses had a similar risk reduction (86% vs 88%).publishedVersio

Contributing factors for undernutrition in children admitted to Nutrition Rehabilitation Units (NRUs) in Malawi : A follow-up descriptive case study from Mangochi District, Malawi

Background: Child undernutrition is a major health problem and an important risk factor for child mortality as more than 50% of deaths among children under five are either a direct or indirect attributable to undernutrition. Nutrition Rehabilitation Units (NRU`s) have been established where severely undernourished children come in for therapeutic feeding and their caregivers are offered education on child feeding. Few follow-up studies have been done to investigate their long-term prospects after discharge. It is well recognised that caring practices are important factors in order to maintain good health and nutrition in the children, however adequate caring practices require time, knowledge, economic resources and motivation. Possible obstacles of the caregiver’s possibility to maintain the nutritional status of the child is important to identify in order to contribute to the understanding of ways to implement supportive measures both in prevention of undernutrition and to maintain the child’s health status after rehabilitation. Objective: The aim was to explore how various caring practices can contribute to severe undernutrition in the children admitted to the NRU. Further, to examine possible obstacles for the caregiver to provide adequate care to the child before admittance and after discharge. Design: A descriptive case study was conducted using a structured questionnaire and taking of anthropometric measurements on admission to the NRU and one month after discharge. In addition, qualitative interviews were conducted with both caregivers of the children and staff at the NRU. Setting: A total number of 70 patients and their caregivers admitted to three NRUs in Mangochi District in Malawi were included. Results: Lack of resources of different kinds seemed to be a limiting factor for the caregivers to provide adequate care to the children. These resources were related to support, time, knowledge, a healthy environment and access to medical assistance. After discharge, the nutritional status improved for 67 % of the children who were followed up after discharge. The failure of improvement for the remaining seemed to be both due to lack of resources in the household and problems related to compliance to the follow-up system. Conclusion: Severe undernutrition may be determined to a large extent by the caregivers resources available to give adequate care to their child. Education on child health and nutrition must be improved in the community through community based services in order to prevent illness and undernutrition in children. Incorporating treatment of undernourished children and supplementary feeding programs into such community based services might increase the success rates

Substantial Decline in Prevalence of Vaccine-Type and Nonvaccine-Type Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Girls 5 Years After Implementing HPV Vaccine in Norway

Background: In 2009, quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was introduced in a school-based single-cohort program targeting 12-year-old girls in Norway. We estimated the impact of the Norwegian HPV immunization program. Methods: Three birth cohorts of 17-year-old girls, 2 nonvaccine-eligible cohorts (born 1994 or 1996) and 1 vaccine-eligible cohort (born 1997) were invited to deliver urine samples. The samples were analyzed for 37 HPV genotypes. HPV prevalence was compared between birth cohorts and between vaccinated and unvaccinated girls within and across birth cohorts after linkage to the Norwegian Immunisation Registry. Results: In total, 17 749 urine samples were analyzed. A 42% (95% confidence interval [CI], 37%–47%) reduction in any HPV type and 81% (95% CI, 76%–85%) reduction in vaccine types (HPV-6/11/16/18) were observed in the vaccine-eligible cohort compared to the 1994 cohort. Vaccine types were reduced by 54% (95% CI, 39%–66%) and 90% (95% CI, 86%–92%) in unvaccinated and vaccinated girls, respectively, from the 1997 cohort, compared with unvaccinated girls born in 1994. A significant reduction was also observed for several nonvaccine types. Vaccine-type prevalence was reduced by 77% (95% CI, 65%–85%) in vaccinated compared with unvaccinated girls from the 1997 cohort. Conclusions: In this largely HPV-naive population, we observed a substantial reduction in vaccine and nonvaccine types in vaccinated and unvaccinated girls following introduction of HPV vaccination