Aim: The National Institute of Public Health of Kosovo (NIPHK) considered the challenge of assessing the availability and performance of critical public health services in Kosovo. To this end, support was requested from the World Health... more
Aim: The National Institute of Public Health of Kosovo (NIPHK) considered the challenge of assessing the availability and performance of critical public health services in Kosovo. To this end, support was requested from the World Health Organization (WHO) European Regional Office, through the WHO office in Pristina, for an action-oriented process. The systematic process of the self-assessment of public health operations aimed to generate sufficient empirical evidence to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the country’s health services and functions to provide recommendations for future public health actions in Kosovo.Methods: The NIPHK team followed the systematic self-assessment methodology of the Essential Public Health Operations (EPHO) model that the WHO’s regional office for Europe developed. The appraisal was conducted throughout 2018 and the first quarter of 2019 and involved a broad spectrum of public health actors. It also followed a participatory, interdisciplinary, a...
Background: Measles is one of the most contagious diseases faced by humans. Despite considerable progress, measles remains one of the leading global causes of death among children. Methods and Results: The seroprevalence of antibodies... more
Background: Measles is one of the most contagious diseases faced by humans. Despite considerable progress, measles remains one of the leading global causes of death among children. Methods and Results: The seroprevalence of antibodies against measles in Kosovo was determined with a serological survey of measles. In total, 768 participants aged between 3 days and 45 years of both sexes were included. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay results revealed total seropositivity of 74.5% (95% CI: 0.70–0.88) among participants. Those in the unvaccinated 0–1.9-year age group had the lowest seropositivity (33.2%). The 2–6-year age group, which received one dose of the vaccine, had higher seropositivity (78.6%) than the youngest group. The 8–17-year age group, which received two doses of the measles vaccine, had significantly higher seropositivity (91.3%) than the 2–6-year age group. The highest level of seropositivity (93.4%) was observed in the 18–45-year age group. An analysis of sex-specific...
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ObjectivesOur study described how the WHO intra-action review (IAR) methodology was operationalised and customised in three Western Balkan countries and territories and the Republic of Moldova and analysed the common key findings to... more
ObjectivesOur study described how the WHO intra-action review (IAR) methodology was operationalised and customised in three Western Balkan countries and territories and the Republic of Moldova and analysed the common key findings to inform analyses of the lessons learnt from the pandemic response.DesignWe extracted data from the respective IAR reports and performed a qualitative thematic content analysis to identify common (between countries and territories) and cross-cutting (across the response pillars) themes on best practices, challenges and priority actions. The analysis involved three stages, namely: extraction of data, initial identification of emerging themes and review and definition of the themes.SettingIARs were conducted in the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Kosovo and the Republic of North Macedonia between December 2020 and November 2021. The IARs were conducted at different time points relative to the respective pandemic trajectories (14-day incidence rate ranging f...
<p>Sequences from patients in Kosovo are designated with KS, followed by patients' ID and year of hospitalization. GenBank accession numbers of reference sequences are shown alongside CCHFV strain origin. Branch labels represent... more
<p>Sequences from patients in Kosovo are designated with KS, followed by patients' ID and year of hospitalization. GenBank accession numbers of reference sequences are shown alongside CCHFV strain origin. Branch labels represent posterior probabilities. Designations A1–A5 represent the assigned phylogenetic clusters based on the analysis of the 389 bp fragment. Samples in black type in the M segment analysis did not have a representing S segment sequence.</p
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<p>Sequence abundances were plotted on the map of Kosovo. The numbers represent the number of obtained sequences. Designations A1–A5 represent the assigned phylogenetic clusters. RS = Republic of Serbia, ME = Montenegro,... more
<p>Sequence abundances were plotted on the map of Kosovo. The numbers represent the number of obtained sequences. Designations A1–A5 represent the assigned phylogenetic clusters. RS = Republic of Serbia, ME = Montenegro, AL = Albania, FYROM = Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.</p
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Research Interests: Medical Microbiology, Adolescent, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Disease Outbreaks, Humans, and 15 moreChild, Female, Animals, Male, Infant, Hygiene, Francisella tularensis, Clinical Sciences, Aged, Adult, Food Contamination, Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Lymphadenitis, Case Control Studies, and Child preschool
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A large outbreak of tularemia occurred in Kosovo in the early postwar period, 1999-2000. Epidemiologic and environmental investigations were conducted to identify sources of infection, modes of transmission, and household risk factors.... more
A large outbreak of tularemia occurred in Kosovo in the early postwar period, 1999-2000. Epidemiologic and environmental investigations were conducted to identify sources of infection, modes of transmission, and household risk factors. Case and control status was verified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western blot, and microagglutination assay. A total of 327 serologically confirmed cases of tularemia pharyngitis and cervical lymphadenitis were identified in 21 of 29 Kosovo municipalities. Matched analysis of 46 case households and 76 control households suggested that infection was transmitted through contaminated food or water and that the source of infection was rodents. Environmental circumstances in war-torn Kosovo led to epizootic rodent tularemia and its spread to resettled rural populations living under circumstances of substandard housing, hygiene, and sanitation.
Research Interests: Medical Microbiology, Adolescent, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Disease Outbreaks, Humans, and 15 moreChild, Female, Animals, Male, Infant, Hygiene, Francisella tularensis, Clinical Sciences, Aged, Adult, Food Contamination, Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Lymphadenitis, Case Control Studies, and Child preschool
Brain tumors are a common cause of epilepsy. Tumor type and location are determining factors that significantly influence seizure frequency. The aim of this study was to analyze clinical data of patients diagnosed with brain tumors and... more
Brain tumors are a common cause of epilepsy. Tumor type and location are determining factors that significantly influence seizure frequency. The aim of this study was to analyze clinical data of patients diagnosed with brain tumors and epilepsy. Data for this study were obtained from patient medical records over a 6-year period (2000-2005). Patient history and findings obtained by diagnostic methods such as electroencephalography, computerized tomography and magnetic resonance were analyzed. Data were analyzed by appropriate statistical methods and the structure, prevalence, mean and standard deviation were calculated. The significance of results was tested by use of t-test and chi2-test. A total of 15 933 patient charts were analyzed. Out of 15 933 patients, 10.8% were diagnosed with epilepsy and 175 (1.09%) patients had brain tumor, 75 (42.86%) of which were significantly associated with epilepsy (P > 0.05). Almost forty-three percent (42.86%) of tumors were epileptogenic, with...
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Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) are important viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF), especially in the Balkan region. Infections with Dobrava or Puumala orthohantavirus and Crimean-Congo... more
Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) are important viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF), especially in the Balkan region. Infections with Dobrava or Puumala orthohantavirus and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever orthonairovirus can vary from a mild, nonspecific febrile illness, to a severe disease with a fatal outcome. The pathogenesis of both diseases is poorly understood, but it has been suggested that a host’s immune mechanism might influence the pathogenesis of the diseases and survival. The aim of our study is to characterize cytokine response in patients with VHF in association with the disease progression and viral load. Forty soluble mediators of the immune response, coagulation, and endothelial dysfunction were measured in acute serum samples in 100 HFRS patients and 70 CCHF patients. HFRS and CCHF patients had significantly increased levels of IL-6, IL-12p70, IP-10, INF-γ, TNF-α, GM-CSF, MCP-3, and MIP-1b in comparison to the contr...
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Annual vaccination is the most effective way to prevent and control the health and economic burden caused by seasonal influenza. Healthcare workers (HCWs) play a crucial role in vaccine acceptance and advocacy for their patients. This... more
Annual vaccination is the most effective way to prevent and control the health and economic burden caused by seasonal influenza. Healthcare workers (HCWs) play a crucial role in vaccine acceptance and advocacy for their patients. This study explored the drivers of HCWs' vaccine acceptance and advocacy in six European countries. Healthcare workers (mainly general practitioners, specialist physicians, and nurses) voluntarily completed a questionnaire in Bulgaria (N = 485), Czech Republic (N = 518), Kosovo (N = 466), Poland (N = 772), Romania (N = 155), and the United Kingdom (N = 80). Twelve-item scales were used to analyse sentiment clusters for influenza vaccination acceptance and engagement with vaccination advocacy. Past vaccination behaviour and patient recommendation were also evaluated. All data were included in a single analysis. For vaccination acceptance, the main cluster (engaged sentiment: 68%) showed strong positive attitudes for influenza vaccination. A second cluste...
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In countries from which Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is absent, the causative virus CCHF virus (CCHFV) is classified as a hazard group 4 agent and handled in containment level 4. In contrast, most endemic countries out of... more
In countries from which Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is absent, the causative virus CCHF virus (CCHFV) is classified as a hazard group 4 agent and handled in containment level 4. In contrast, most endemic countries out of necessity have had to perform diagnostic tests under biosafety level (BSL) -2 or -3 conditions. In particular, Turkey and several of the Balkan countries have safely processed more than 100000 samples over many years in BSL-2 laboratories. It is therefore advocated that biosafety requirements for CCHF diagnostic procedures should be revised, to allow the required tests to be performed under enhanced BSL-2 conditions with appropriate biosafety laboratory equipment and personal protective equipment used according to standardized protocols in the affected countries. Downgrading of CCHFV research work from Cl-4, BSL-4 to Cl-3, BSL-3 should also be considered.
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Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is the most widespread tick-borne viral infection of humans, occurring across western China through southern Asia, Middle East, and Southeastern Europe (SEE) and in the most of African countries.... more
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is the most widespread tick-borne viral infection of humans, occurring across western China through southern Asia, Middle East, and Southeastern Europe (SEE) and in the most of African countries. CCHF virus is maintained through vertical and horizontal transmission in several genera of ticks, mainly in Hyalomma, which spreads the virus to a variety of wild and domestic mammals, which develop a transient viremia without signs of illness. Human infections occur through tick bite or exposure to the blood or other body fluids of an infected animal or of a CCHF patient. In SEE the number of clinical cases of CCHF as well as the areal of the infected ticks continuously rapidly increased after 2000. The aim of this study was to present actual situation of CCHF in SEE. Sources of information include published literature and personal unpublished data. Based on: 1. Hyaloma&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s presence in Western EU countries, 2. Changes in climatic conditions and 3. Absence of an active vaccination against CCHF, it can be expected that this disease will continue to present real threat for human health in SEE and Southwestern Europe (SWE).
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Research Interests: Epilepsy, Adolescent, Humans, Child, Female, and 7 moreMale, Expert, Young Adult, Clinical Sciences, Middle Aged, Adult, and Brain Neoplasms
Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is primarily a zoonotic disease, mostly present as sporadic cases, but outbreaks also occur, especially in the family. Disease as endemic form is presents in some countries of Africa, Europe and... more
Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is primarily a zoonotic disease, mostly present as sporadic cases, but outbreaks also occur, especially in the family. Disease as endemic form is presents in some countries of Africa, Europe and Asia. In 2001, outbreak of CCHF was registered in Kosova, Albania, Pakistan, Iran, and South Africa. Goal of the research was to establish a pattern of the disease, its natural flow and herd immunity. For this purpose we used epidemiological methods, laboratory confirmation (ELISA, PCR) and t-test and chi2-test for results significance verification. Morbidity rate of the disease for the period of fifteen years (1995-2009) is 0.49 in 100,000 inhabitants, and lethality rate is 26.76 deaths on 100 lab confirmed cases. CCHF in Kosovo is present in 50% of the territory with common characteristics: altitude, hot climate, low bush and farming. Hyper endemic zones are in Central and South West of Kosovo. Seroprevalence in entire healthy population is found to ...