Infectious diseases

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the potential impact of infectious diseases on public health and the need for well-designed epidemiological studies and disease surveillance systems for pandemic preparedness.

During the COVID-19 pandemic we were involved in the planning and analysis of several studies. Including the randomised HEVACC and SHIELDVACC vaccine trial, the Shieldvacc-2 study, the REDUCE study and the “Gurgelstudie". Moreover, in close collaboration with the Institute of Virology, we were working on two cross-sectional surveys taking place in the Austrian ski resort Ischgl, one of the early hotspots of the coronavirus.

We have worked on design and analysis of the Austrian School-SARS-CoV-2 prospective cohort study (“Gurgelstudie”), in which we quantified prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections across 250 representative schools throughout the school year 2020/2021 and provided novel insight into the correlations of frequency of infections in schools vs the general community (Lancet Reg Health Eur 2021) and the test performance of the Austrian antigen-based self-testing programme (Euro Surveill 2021).

Together with our colleagues at the Central Institute for Blood Transfusion and Immunology, we have been assessing seroprevalence of antibody levels against SARS-CoV-2 among blood donors. This project involved over 100,000 measurements between June 2020 and December 2022, and provided both novel scientific insights and important information to regional and national decision makers (Wien Klin Wochenschr 2021, Viruses 2022, Viruses 2022).

Our institute led the REDUCE study, which accompanied the ultra-rapid rollout vaccination with BNT126b2 in the district of Schwaz in March 2021 and was set up with enormous efforts within a short time frame of 10 days. The REDUCE study involved approximately 12,000 individuals and showed that the vaccination initiative was highly effective in terms of reducing SARS-CoV-2 incidence (iScience 2022).

In another study coupled to the Schwaz vaccination programme, the Shieldvacc-2 study, a phase-4 open-label trial, we measured anti-SARS-CoV-2 binding and neutralising antibodies and T-cell responses to two-dose  BNT126b2 vaccination and revealed a log-linear relationship between higher antibody levels and protection of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infection over a six-month follow-up (Lancet Microbe 2023).

In cooperation with the teaching hospital LKH Feldkirch, we were among the first who evaluated the new SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in vulnerable patient groups such as dialysis and cancer patients. Initiated by the Department of Neurology, Lalit Kaltenbach established a worldwide database (later named EAN NEuro-covid ReGistrY, ENERGY) that provides epidemiological data on neurological manifestations in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection reported by neurologists.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have contributed to expert statements, for instance highlighting the benefits, costs and feasibility of a low incidence COVID-19 strategy (Lancet Reg Health Eur 2022) and setting out strategies to enhance European collaboration in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic (Lancet 2021).