Cryptic SARS-CoV-2 lineage identified on two mink farms as a possible result of long-term undetected circulation in an unknown animal reservoir, Poland, November 2022 to January 2023.

In late 2022 and early 2023, SARS-CoV-2 infections were detected on three mink farms in Poland situated within a few km from each other. Whole-genome sequencing of the viruses on two of the farms showed that they were related to a virus identified in humans in the same region 2 years before (B.1.1.307 lineage). Many mutations were found, including in the S protein typical of adaptations to the mink host. The origin of the virus remains to be determined.

Virulence Properties of GI-23 Infectious Bronchitis Virus Isolated in Poland and Efficacy of Different Vaccination strategies.

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is one of the most important poultry pathogens, leading significant economic losses worldwide. IBV is characterised by highly genetic, serotype, and pathotypic variability. Despite extensive immunoprophylaxis strategies, the emergence of new genetic lineages is frequently observed in the field, causing disease control to be more complicated. In the last decade, the spread of variants assigned to the GI-23 lineage of IBV (formerly known as Var2) started from Middle-Eastern countries and reached Europe in the last few years. Recently, the introduction and fast spread of Var2-like IBVs in Poland was reported. In this study, the virulence properties and efficacy of different vaccination programmes were evaluated against infection with the IBV GI-23 strain gammaCoV/Ck/Poland/G052/2016. The pathogenicity of the Var2 isolate was conducted in one-day-old and three-week-old SPF chickens and showed that the course of the disease is age dependent. Seven vaccination programmes using Mass, 793B, QX alone or in combination, and Var2 live vaccines were tested against the GI-23 infectious bronchitis virus challenge. All groups were scored according to the ciliostasis test at 5 days post challenge. Two immunoprophylaxis strategies generated full protection against gammaCoV/Ck/Poland/G052/2016 infection-Var2 and Mass used in one-day-old chickens boosted by a combination of the QX and 793B vaccine (both with a ciliostasis score of 0 and 100% protection).

SARS-CoV-2 Monitoring on Mink Farms in Poland.

Introduction: Many countries have reported severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in mink, and transmission back to humans has raised the concern of novel variants emerging in these animals. The monitoring system on Polish mink farms detected SARS-CoV-2 infection first in January 2021 and has been kept in place since then. Material and Methods: Oral swab samples collected between February 2021 and March 2022 from 11,853 mink from 594 farms in different regions of Poland were screened molecularly for SARS-CoV-2. Isolates from those with the highest loads of viral genetic material from positive farms were sequenced and phylogenetically analysed. Serological studies were also carried out for one positive farm in order to follow the antibody response after infection. Results: SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in mink on 11 farms in 8 out of 16 Polish administrative regions. Whole genome sequences were obtained for 19 SARS-CoV-2 strains from 10 out of 11 positive farms. These genomes belonged to four different variants of concern (VOC) - VOC-Gamma (20B), VOC-Delta (21J), VOC-Alpha (20I) and VOC-Omicron (21L) - and seven different Pango lineages - B.1.1.464, B.1.1.7, AY.43, AY.122, AY.126, B.1.617.2 and BA.2. One of the nucleotide and amino acid mutations specific for persistent strains found in the analysed samples was the Y453F host adaptation mutation. Serological testing of blood samples revealed a high rate of seroprevalence on the single mink farm studied. Conclusion: Farmed mink are highly susceptible to infection with SARS-CoV-2 of different lineages, including Omicron BA.2 VOC. As these infections were asymptomatic, mink may become an unnoticeable virus reservoir generating new variants potentially threatening human health. Therefore, real-time monitoring of mink is extremely important in the context of the One Health approach.

Venous thromboembolism: Why is it still a significant health problem?

BACKGROUND: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) remains the third leading cause of acute cardiovascular syndrome following myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke. The global burden of disease worldwide is high and shows a steady upward trend in recent years with an incidence of 1-2 per 1000 adults per year. The overarching goal of the initial management of VTE is to prevent early and late adverse outcomes. Rapid evaluation and therapeutic intervention is vital to improving prognosis. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Science Direct and Scopus databases for articles published in the last 10 years. Additionally, some earlier articles were analyzed. RESULTS: For the purposes of this review, we discussed how understanding the epidemiology of VTE and the current knowledge of early and late complications of this disease have shaped the current approach to VTE prevention. We also analyzed the current knowledge and the most up-to-date information about VTE in COVID-19 infection. Contemporary perspective presented in this article on mortality in VTE, the incidence of recurrences, the risk of major bleeding during therapy and the chronic complications indicate why this is a major challenge for today's medicine and a current target for further research. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the interaction between environmental and genetic factors appears to be crucial in the diagnostic process. It can provide insight into the pathophysiology of VTE, potentially identifying options for targeted prevention and treatment. However, due to differences in clinical presentation, diagnosing pulmonary embolism may not be an easy task which perfectly illustrates the scale and complexity of the disease.

COVID-19 Pandemic Consequences among Individuals with Eating Disorders on a Clinical Sample in Poland—A Cross-Sectional Study

The COVID-19 pandemic and imposed restrictions had negative consequences on overall health among many populations. This study aimed to investigate the influence of the pandemic on eating disorders (ED) and mental health (MH) of individuals with confirmed ED diagnoses. A survey consisting of questions related to (1) diagnosis of COVID-19, (2) changes in ED symptoms and onset of new symptoms, (3) psychological and MH aspects regarding to the pandemic, (4) lifestyle changes, and (5) social media (SM) usage was distributed between April–June 2021. One hundred and ninety-eight individuals met all of the inclusion criteria (nfemales = 195, 98.48%;nother gender = 3, 1.52%). Of the participants, 78.79% reported worsening of their ED symptoms, 42.93% of them noticed an onset of new ED symptoms, and 57.58% believed that the pandemic had a negative impact on their ED treatment. Negative changes due to the pandemic on MH were reported by 88.89%. Of the participants, 91.92% increased their time spent on SM and 54.04% of them declared that it had a negative impact on their MH. Medical professionals should consider results while providing comprehensive psychological care, which can be crucial information in the application of the appropriate treatment strategy.

Molecular Epidemiology of Turkey Coronaviruses in Poland.

The only knowledge of the molecular structure of European turkey coronaviruses (TCoVs) comes from France. These viruses have a quite distinct S gene from North American isolates. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of TCoV strains in a Polish turkey farm during a twelve-year period, between 2008 and 2019, and to characterize their full-length S gene. Out of the 648 flocks tested, 65 (10.0%, 95% CI: 7.9-12.6) were positive for TCoV and 16 of them were molecularly characterized. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these strains belonged to two clusters, one formed by the early isolates identified at the beginning of the TCoV monitoring (from 2009 to 2010), and the other, which was formed by more recent strains from 2014 to 2019. Our analysis of the changes observed in the deduced amino acids of the S1 protein suggests the existence of three variable regions. Moreover, although the selection pressure analysis showed that the TCoV strains were evolving under negative selection, some sites of the S1 subunit were positively selected, and most of them were located within the proposed variable regions. Our sequence analysis also showed one TCoV strain had recombined with another one in the S1 gene. The presented investigation on the molecular feature of the S gene of TCoVs circulating in the turkey population in Poland contributes interesting data to the current state of knowledge.

Mink SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Poland - Short Communication.

INTRODUCTION: Since April 2020, when the first SARS-CoV-2 infection was reported in mink and subsequently in mink farm workers in the Netherlands, it has been confirmed that human-to-mink and mink-to-human transmission can occur. Later, SARS-CoV-2 infections in mink were reported in many European and North American countries. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Samples from 590 mink from a total of 28 farms were tested by real-time RT-PCR. Whole genome sequences from one positive farm were generated and genetic relatedness was established. RESULTS: SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected on a breeder farm with stock of 5,850 mink. Active viraemia was confirmed in individually tested samples with Ct values respectively between 19.4 and 29.6 for E and N gene fragments. Further testing of samples from culled animals revealed 70% positivity in throat swabs and 30% seropositivity in blood samples. Phylogenetic analysis of full-length nucleotide sequences of two SARS-CoV-2 isolates revealed that they belong to the 20B Nextstrain clade. Several nucleotide mutations were found in analysed samples compared to the reference Wuhan HU-1 strain and some of them were nonsynonymous. CONCLUSION: We report the infection of mink with SARS-CoV-2 on one farm in Poland and the results of subsequent analysis of virus sequences from two isolates. These data can be useful for assessment of the epidemiological situation of SARS-CoV-2 in Poland and how it endangers public health.

Molecular epidemiology of infectious bronchitis virus in Poland from 1980 to 2017.

The presence of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) was identified for the first time in the poultry population in Poland at the end of the 1960s. From this time a few waves of epidemics caused by different IBV variants spread across the country. In order to gain more insight into the molecular epidemiology of IBV in Poland, in the present study the S1 coding region of 34 IBV isolates and nearly whole genome of 10 strains collected over a period of 38 years was characterized. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these strains belonged to five recently established IBV lineages: GI-1, GI-12, GI-13, GI-19 and GI-23. Additionally, two strains from 1989 and 1997 formed a separate branch of the phylogenetic tree categorized as unique early Polish variants, and one strain was revealed to be the recombinant of these and GI-1 lineage viruses. Irrespective of year of isolation and S1-dependent genotype, the genome sequences of Polish IBV strains showed the presence of six genes and 13 ORFs: 5'UTR-1a-1b-S-3a-3b-E-M-4b-4c-5a-5b-N-6b-3'UTR, however their individual genes and putative proteins had different lengths. The phylogenetic analyses performed on the genome of ten Polish IBV strains revealed that they cluster into different groups. The Polish GI-1, GI-19 and GI-23 strains cluster with other similar viruses of these lineages, with the exception of the two strains from 1989 and 1997 which are different. It seems that in Poland in the 1980s and 1990s IBV strains with a unique genome backbone circulated in the field, which were then replaced by other strains belonging to other IBV lineages with a genome backbone specific to these lineages. The recombination analysis showed that some Polish strains resulted from a recombination event involving different IBV lineages, most frequently GI-13 and GI-19.