sarscov2 variants evaluation in pregnancy and paediatrics cohorts

variants of concern voc of sarscov2 raise the possibility of increases in transmissibility severity and immune evasion children and pregnant women who have not been prioritised in the pandemic are likely to be the last population for whom vaccines are approved and may have low uptake increasing the risk of voc arising in this population monitoring this group across regions is crucial given rapid changes in epidemiology due to interventions vaccine rollout and viral evolution verdi sarscov2 variants evaluation in pregnancy and paediatrics cohorts will build on a longstanding infectious disease research and trial network penta to address research questions on the impact of voc in these vulnerable groupsmpox virus known as monkeypox or mpx when this application was originally written is a zoonotic orthopox virus first described in the democratic republic of congo drc in 1970 it is an infection of global significance with cases reported in 11 african countries and sporadic cases reported outside africa as a result of zoonotic transmission and travellers returning from endemic areas however despite the global burden of mpox disease research into mpox has historically been neglected this current outbreak of mpox is like many communicable and noncommunicable diseases a complex biosocial phenomenon disproportionately impacting marginalised communities whilst exposing and amplifying global health inequitiessince may 2022 large numbers of mpox cases have been reported in nonendemic countries as of 9 september 2022 there have been 57527 confirmed cases of mpox since the start of the 2022 outbreak with the vast majority being reported in nonendemic countries of the 103 countries reporting cases in this current outbreak 96 are countries which have not historically reported mpox cases a recently published case series of 528 patients in 16 countries reported that 98 of cases were in gay or bisexual men with 41 also living with hiv sexual contact has been found to be the dominant method of transmission in this current outbreak in this case series 13 of cases were hospitalised mainly for pain management bacterial superinfection and fluid management more recently there has been an ongoing mpox outbreak in drc mainly affecting children 15 years of ageverdis objectives are i track and characterise voc and mpox in paediatric and pregnant populations and other high risk populations across the globeiiunderstand effects of voc and mpox on clinical outcomes shortlonger term vaccine effectiveness and transmission characteristics iii model outcomes and impacts of voc and mpox iv develop evidencebased recommendations for control of covid19 and mpox and other emerging or reemerging infectionsverdi will achieve these objectives by bringing together a diverse range of cohort studies including large scale national and regional level populationbased cohort studies from the eu and beyond providing a unique opportunity for harmonised analysis of data on voc and mpox from a range of sources eg electronic health records bespoke cohort studies household transmission studies screening programmes we will facilitate expansion of existing studies eg replicating ongoing european household studies elsewhere through this approach verdi will expand and enhance existing cohort networks including promoting flexibility to adapt to future emerging infections the project will improve understanding of the epidemiology and impact of voc and mpox leading to robust recommendations for control in a range of global settings as well as developing preparedness for future health emergencies