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Indoor air quality (IAQ) is rated as a serious public health issue. Knowing children are accounted as more vulnerable to environmental health hazards, data are needed on air quality in schools.

Besides acquiring health services, healthcare facilities present a substantial environmental health risk through diagnostics, therapeutic and laboratory practice. Wastewaters from these procedures are a heterogeneous mixture including toxic chemicals, microorganisms, radioisotopes and hormones. Our aim was to point at the existing flaws in managing liquid waste within the all-level healthcare system in Serbia. Cross-section study was implemented in a sample of 45 facilities. Questionnaire was used as a survey tool focusing on wastewater treatment and laboratory analysis. Pretreatment is implemented in only three facilities, while in 9 out of 45(20%) facilities regular laboratory tests of the efluent are practiced. Within the sample of 212 facilities questioned for municipal waste recycling practice, 50% recycles all streams available for recycling, while 50% does not include this process into its regular daily agenda.

Mining and mineral processing is still a vital source of income in Serbia, due to mineral abundance in copper, lead, zinc, antimony. Copper mining and metal-processing are located in the east: Bor, Veliki Krivelj, Cerovo, Majdanpek. Abandoned sites from antimony mining and processing and secondary lead smelter are at the western border: Zajača, Krupanj, Stolice. Coal mining and power plants are surrounding Belgrade: Obrenovac (2 power plants), Grabovac (plant ash landfill), Kolubara and Kostolac. Main objective is to focus on potential public health hazards from industrial contamination in Serbia. Key public health issue is presence of As and Cd in ambient air PM10 close to industrially contaminated sites due to the fact that ores have high naturally occurring contents of heavy metals and metalloids. Data originate from Serbian Environmental Protection Agency, Mining and Metallurgy Institute Bor, Belgrade Institute of Public Health, as part of continuous measurement of air quality within State network of automatic stations. Concentration of As in PM10 are extremely above the limit value in Bor and Lazarevac, with Cd values slightly increased in Bor. Serbia lacks the legal framework for continuous and institutionalized follow-up of population groups vulnerable to hazardous environmental exposure, although measured concentration indicate urgent need for such activities.

Introduction: Between February and November 2016, 17 tuberculosis (TB) cases were identified among high school students in Novi Pazar, Serbia. The objectives of our study were to describe the outbreak, to identify potential risk factors and to evaluate the applied control measures., Methodology: The outbreak was described by time, person and place. A retrospective cohort study was conducted. Attack rates, unadjusted relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Multiple log-binomial regression analysis was performed to calculate adjusted RR., Results: Sixteen of the total 17 cases occurred among grade 3 students, AR 5.5%. Previous TB family history, (RR = 5.29; 95% CI = 1.63-17.12), spending time with a known TB case at school (RR = 5.38; 95% CI = 1.48-19.55) and exposure to secondhand smoke (RR = 3.37; 95% CI = 1.11-10.29) were all significantly and independently associated with the occurrence of TB., Conclusions: Delayed diagnosis and reporting resulted in delayed initiation of the contact investigation and non-identification of latent TB cases probably favored the occurrence of this outbreak in a low incidence country. Public health authorities should consider revising the existing guidelines, promoting inter-sectorial collaboration and increasing awareness of public health professionals., Competing Interests: No Conflict of Interest is declared, (Copyright (c) 2019 Maja B Stosic, Dragana Plavsa, Nikoletta Mavroeidi, Dragana Jovanovic, Violeta Vucinic, Goran Stevanovic, Lidija Sagic, Sefadil Spahic, Uros Rakic, Anita Grgurevic.)

Lyme disease (LD) is a natural focal zoonotic disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, which is mainly transmitted through infected Ixodes ricinus tick bites. The presence and abundance of ticks in various habitats, the infectivity rate, as well as prolonged human exposure to ticks are factors that may affect the infection risk as well as the incidence of LD. In recent years, 20% to 25% of ticks infected with different borrelial species, as well as about 5,300 citizens with LD, have been registered in the Belgrade area. Many of the patients reported tick bites in city's grassy areas. The aim of this study was to assess the seroprevalence of B. burgdorferi in high-risk groups (forestry workers and soldiers) in the Belgrade area, and to compare the results with healthy blood donors. A two-step algorithm consisting of ELISA and Western blot tests was used in the study. Immunoreactivity profiles were also compared between the groups. The results obtained showed the seroprevalence to be 11.76% in the group of forestry workers, 17.14% in the group of soldiers infected by tick bites and 8.57% in the population of healthy blood donors. The highest IgM reactivity was detected against the OspC protein, while IgG antibodies showed high reactivity against VlsE, p19, p41, OspC, OspA and p17. Further investigations in this field are necessary in humans and animals in order to improve protective and preventive measures against LD.

Purpose: To present the performance indicators for monitoring the cervical cancer screening process conducted in primary health centres (PHCs) and to identify any shortcomings in the implementation of the Organized Cervical Cancer Screening Programme (OCCSP)., Methods: This study included 16 PHCs participating in the OCCSP in the Republic of Serbia. The data were analysed from the moment the methodology in the PHCs has been accurately and consistently applied in accordance with the European guidelines (earliest from 20th December 2012 until 30th November 2014). We constructed "the standardised" model (adjusted on the number of working months). Performance indicators analysed in this study were: coverage by invitation, coverage by examination, and compliance with invitation., Results: According to "the standardised" model, coverage by invitation was 61.9%, coverage by examination was 35.5% and compliance to invitation was 57.3%., Conclusion: Social mobilization, education, effective promotion strategies and training about cervical cancer screening program-especially in women of target population-as well as better coordination and planning of capacity-building, and staff resources in PHCs, are needed in the future in order to obtain higher values for our performance indicators. Screening registration will provide additional information about demographic characteristics of the tested women.