Assessing social contact patterns before and during COVID-19 pandemic in Greece

Social contacts surveys are performed in multiple time points during the pandemic. Participants report the total number of contacts that they had on the day before the survey. The first survey was implemented in March-April 2020; in that survey, social contacts data were collected for the period before the pandemic as well.

Estimating all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the population of people who inject drugs in Greece

Preliminary data appear in a preprint here
These data helped to advocate the use of take-home naloxone
Athens received an award at Partnership for Healthy Cities Summit
1) for increasing access to the opioid overdose reversal agent, naloxone, at community-based organizations and among healthcare professionals and

HIV, HCV and Tuberculosis in a Greek prison (2017-2018)

A program aiming to increase screening and linkage to care for HCV, HBV and HIV for people with history of drug use in the largest prison in Greece.
Preliminary results were presented at INSHU 2018

Working group on HIV outbreaks among people who use drugs in Europe and North America

Research group of public health professionals working on the recent outbreaks of HIV among PWID in WHO European region and North America

Our Lancet HIV 2020 paper appears here
Our paper on the impact of COVID-19 on HIV-HCV Prevention Services in People Who Inject Drugs in 13 Sites with Recent HIV Outbreaks appear here

2009 H1N1 Pandemic - Assessment of attack rate, ICU admission and case fatality rates in Greece

Data on influenza-like illness were collected through cross-sectional nationwide telephone surveys of 1,000 households in Greece repeated for 25 consecutive weeks (2009-2010) and were combined with data from H1N1 virologic surveillance to estimate the incidence and the clinical attack rate of influenza A(H1N1). Data on H1N1 morbidity and mortality were used to estimate ICU admission and case fatality (CFR) rates.

2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic - Modeling the impact of interventions

Use of individual-based simulation model to assess:

1. The impact of school closure (Sypsa et al, Eurosurveillance 2009)
2. The impact of prioritisation and of timing of vaccination strategies (Sypsa et al, Eurosurveillance 2009)

on reducing transmission of pandemic influenza A(H1N1) in Greece

ALEXANDROS program (2019-2021)

A community-based seek-test-treat program to enhance diagnosis and linkage to care for HCV/HIV/HBV among people who inject drugs in Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area in Greece
See our paper on the new HIV outbreak identified through this project here

ARISTOTLE HCV HIV program (2018-2020)

A community-based seek-test-treat program to enhance diagnosis and linkage to care for HIV, hepatitis C infection and hepatitis B infection among people who inject drugs in Athens, Greece

Preliminary results of the program were presented at the International Liver Congress 2019

ARISTOTLE program (2012-2013)

A seek-test-treat intervention to decrease HIV/AIDS transmission among people who inject drugs during an HIV outbreak in Athens, Greece.
The program was included in the “Compendium of Good Practices on response to HIV in WHO European Region” in 2018
Papers related to the HIV outbreak in Athens and ARISTOTLE program

Assessing vaccination intention during COVID-19 pandemic in Greece

Repeated cross-sectional surveys on nationally representative samples of adults in Greece
Sypsa et al, https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10030470

Vana Sypsa

Professor, Medicine

Projects