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The burden of influenza disease is to a large extent unknown for the African continent. Moreover, the interaction of influenza with common infectious diseases in Africa remains poorly described. Solid scientific evidence on the influenza disease burden in Africa is critical for the development of effective influenza vaccine policies.On 1st and 2nd June 2010 in Marrakech, Morocco, over eighty surveillance...
Pertussis remains endemic worldwide and is an important public health problem, even in countries with sustained high vaccination coverage. Resurgence of pertussis in the post-vaccination era has been reported in many areas of the world. The Global Pertussis Initiative (GPI) was established in 2001 to evaluate the ongoing problem of pertussis worldwide and to recommend appropriate pertussis control...
A prospective epidemiologic surveillance of hospitalizations associated with influenza was conducted in order to calculate population-based hospitalization rates. Eligible children were 6 months to 13 years of age and were admitted to one of the two large children's hospitals in the Athens area during two influenza seasons. Nasopharyngeal aspirates were tested for influenza by a polymerase reaction...
The observational diagnosis phase of the VESTA study was aimed to determine the composite profiles of vaccinated/non-vaccinated HCWs by analyzing reasons to accept/decline influenza vaccination. Between June and September 2005, 2485 HCWs (female: 82.9%; nursing auxiliaries: 42.1%; vaccination coverage: 23.4%) from 53 French geriatric HCSs were included in the study. Cluster analysis determined 3 composite...
A recent mumps outbreak in Israel despite an ongoing national program of a 2-dose universal childhood vaccination policy since 1988, raised questions regarding population immunity among young adults.To assess the seroprevalence of mumps antibodies among young Israeli adults born after 1987 in order to determine evidence based vaccination policy.We conducted a seroprevalence study of mumps IgG antibodies...
In Belgium, the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) was introduced into the national schedule in 2007. The early impact of PCV7 vaccination on paediatric invasive disease was estimated by comparing pre- and post-vaccination incidence from national surveillance. In children <2 year-olds, vaccine-serotype incidence declined by 96% but non-vaccine-types increased 2–3-fold. Overall invasive...
Taiwan started to immunize children in 30 indigenous townships against hepatitis A since June 1995. The program was further expanded to 19 non-indigenous townships with higher incidence or increased risk of epidemic in 1997–2002, covering 2% of total population. Annual incidence of hepatitis A decreased from 2.96 in 1995 (baseline period) to 0.90/100,000 in 2003–2008 (vaccination period). The incidence...
The Global Meningococcal Initiative (GMI) is composed of an international group of scientists, clinicians and public health officials with expertise in meningococcal immunology, epidemiology and prevention. The primary goal of the GMI is the promotion of the global prevention of invasive meningococcal disease through education and research. The GMI members reviewed global meningococcal disease epidemiology,...
The introduction of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccines has greatly reduced the incidence of invasive Hib disease. However, concern exists about the possible emergence of “strain replacement”. We report the epidemiology and characterization of isolates from invasive H. influenzae disease in Italy through 2007–2009, 10 years after Hib vaccination was introduced. Invasive H. influenzae...
Pertussis has been a preventable disease in Catalonia since 1965, but the annual number of cases remains high. The aim of this study was to analyze the epidemiology of pertussis in Catalonia and its implications for control purposes.An epidemiological study was carried out in Catalonia between 2004 and 2008. Pertussis cases reported to the Department of Health were collected and disease reports were...
Rotavirus vaccines were introduced in Belgium in 2006 and recommended in the universal schedule in January 2007. We measured the impact of rotavirus vaccination through an active laboratory-based surveillance system. In 2008, the number of laboratory confirmed rotavirus cases declined by 61.4% (95% CI 60.2–62.6%) compared to the 2005–2006 pre-vaccination period, with the highest decline in children...
The Brazilian hepatitis B (HBV) vaccination program for neonates was implemented in 1998 and broadened to include young people up to 20 years of age in 2001. However, HBV coverage of teenagers has not been systematically assessed in Brazil.A cross-sectional study was performed to estimate the magnitude of HBV infection and vaccine coverage among adolescent students regularly enrolled in the public...
Diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae continue to cause substantial morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Furthermore, detrimental outcomes are more pronounced in some populations—such as those living in third world poverty, and Indigenous people who live in developed nations.This study describes the epidemiology of blood culture positive S. pneumoniae community-acquired pneumonia (CAP)...
During the 2007–08 influenza season, we reported an interim vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimate of 44% for preventing medically attended influenza. In this analysis we report results for the entire season and compare them with the interim estimate.Patients with feverishness, chills, or cough <8 days duration were prospectively recruited over 10 weeks and tested for influenza by real-time reverse...
During the past decade, accumulating data on the impact of influenza virus-related disease in children have become available. In this review, we summarize and discuss these data. We conclude that mortality due to influenza in children is relatively limited. But, in contrast, influenza-related hospitalizations occur frequently. The bulk of the influenza-related disease burden is experienced in the...
Excellent immune responses following 1 or 2 doses of the monovalent inactivated pandemic H1N1 vaccines have been documented, but the effectiveness of these vaccines against laboratory-confirmed H1N1 infections in the general population is not clear. We evaluated the effectiveness of the pandemic H1N1 and seasonal trivalent influenza vaccines (TIV) used during the 2009 mass vaccination campaign in...
Pertussis in unvaccinated infants can run a severe course and is often accompanied by complications. In this pilot study, we studied whether there is an association between pertussis hospitalisation in infancy and, respiratory symptoms, growth and cognitive development in early childhood. A group of 89 children aged 13–45 months and hospitalised for laboratory confirmed pertussis within the first...
A meeting of the Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board in Sofia, Bulgaria on 24–25 March 2011 reviewed the burden and prevention of viral hepatitis in the country. It examined the organization and funding of the health system, the surveillance systems for infectious diseases, and the epidemiology of viral hepatitis, especially the impact of the universal neonatal hepatitis B immunization programme introduced...
Case definitions of GBS were recently developed in response to the 2009 H1N1 vaccination programme but have undergone limited field testing. We validate the sensitivity of the Brighton Working Group case definitions for Guillain–Barré Syndrome (GBS) using a population-based cohort in India.The National Polio Surveillance Unit of India actively collects all cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in...
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