During 2005-2009, a seroepidemiological study was carried out in Croatia to define the population susceptible to common TORCH agents among pregnant and non-pregnant women of childbearing age. The IgG seroprevalence was 29.1% forT. gondii, 94.6% for rubella, 75.3% for cytomegalovirus (CMV), 78.7% for herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), and 6.8% for HSV-2. Acute toxoplasmosis and CMV infection (positive IgM antibodies with low IgG avidity) were documented in 0.25% and 0.09% women, respectively. IgM prevalence was 1.2% for both HSV-1 and HSV-2. None of the participants showed acute rubella infection. Seropositivity to T. gondii and HSV-2 varied significantly between age groups (p = 0.001 and p = 0.036, respectively). Women residing in rural regions showed a significantly higher seroprevalence rate for T. gondii, CMV, and HSV-1 than urban women (T. gondii: 44.0% vs. 25.4%, p < 0.001; CMV: 85.0% vs. 73.1%, p = 0.018; HSV-1: 86.0% vs. 76.4%, p = 0.041).

The most prevalent, curable sexually important diseases are those caused by Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis) and genital mycoplasmas. An important characteristic of these infections is their ability to cause long-term sequels in upper genital tract, thus potentially affecting the reproductive health in both sexes. Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), tubal factor infertility (TFI), and ectopic pregnancy (EP) are well documented complications of C. trachomatis infection in women. The role of genital mycoplasmas in development of PID, TFI, and EP requires further evaluation, but growing evidence supports a significant role for these in the pathogenesis of chorioamnionitis, premature membrane rupture, and preterm labor in pregnant woman. Both C. trachomatis and genital mycoplasmas can affect the quality of sperm and possibly influence the fertility of men. For the purpose of this paper, basic, epidemiologic, clinical, therapeutic, and public health issue of these infections were reviewed and discussed, focusing on their impact on human reproductive health.

A recent resurgence of mumps in doubly vaccinated cohorts has been observed, identifying genotype G as the current predominant genotype. In this study, the neutralization efficacy of guinea pig sera immunized with three vaccine viruses: L-Zagreb, Urabe AM9 and JL5, was tested against seven mumps viruses: three vaccine strains and four wild-type strains (two of genotype G, one of genotype C, one of genotype D) isolated during 1998-2011. All sera neutralized all viruses although at different levels. The neutralization efficiency of sera decreases several fold by temporal order of virus isolation. Therefore, we concluded that gradual evolution of mumps viruses, rather than belonging to a certain genotype, results in an antigenic divergence from the vaccine strains that decrease the neutralization capacity of vaccine-induced antibodies. Moreover, the amino-acid sequence alignment revealed three new potentially relevant regions for escape from neutralization, i.e. 113-130, 375-403 and 440-443.

The paper analyses the epidemic pattern of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) outbreaks in children in Croatia. Over a period of 11 consecutive winter seasons (1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005) 3,435 inpatients from Zagreb County aged from infancy to 10 years who were hospitalised with acute respiratory tract infections were tested for RSV-infection. RSV was identified in nasopharyngeal secretions of patients by virus isolation in cell culture and by detection of viral antigen with monoclonal antibodies.In the Zagreb area, RSV outbreaks were proven to vary in a two-year cycle, which was repeated every 23-25 months. This biennial cycle comprised one larger and one smaller season. Climate factors correlated significantly with the number of RSV cases identified only in the large seasons, which suggests that the biennial cycle is likely to continue regardless of meteorological conditions. Knowledge of this biennial pattern should be useful in predicting the onset of RSV outbreaks in Croatia, and would facilitate planning for the prevention and control of RSV infections in the region. FindingsRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) frequently causes acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) among children. In investigations of the epidemiology of viral respiratory infections in Croatian children over four seasons in the 1980s, RSV was determined to be the agent of 20-34% of inpatient ARTI [1,2]. Our study of RSV-genotypes circulating in Zagreb and Vienna from 1987-1994 showed that they were similar to the pattern of expression of these genotypes globally [3].In temperate climates, RSV infections occur in winter and in the early spring [1,4]. The role of climate in causing this epidemic pattern has not been evaluated in the area including and surrounding Croatia. We set out to examine the timing of RSV epidemics and the relationship of various meteorological factors and the number of RSV infections in children over 11 consecutive years in Zagreb County. The county covers an area of 3,719.355 km 2 , and includes a population of 1,088,841 inhabitants in the northwest part of Croatia.