This study estimates the burden of disease of the pandemic influenza A(H1N1)2009 virus in the Netherlands during the pandemic season and compares it to the overall burden of disease by calculating Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), a composite measure that combines incidence, sequelae and mortality associated with a disease, taking duration and severity into account.
The United Kingdom has recently published a new influenza pandemic strategy for consultation with key stakeholders. The consultation runs to June 2011 and is the last stage before formal adoption.
A four-fold increased incidence of narcolepsy in vaccinated children/adolescents compared to unvaccinated children was observed in this register-based cohort study.
2 papers are reviewed: A Novel Risk Factor for a Novel Virus: Obesity and 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) and Morbid Obesity as a Risk Factor for Hospitalization and Death Due to 2009 Pandemic Influenza A(H1N1) Disease.
IGRAs are increasingly being considered for the diagnosis of LTBI, as a replacement to the TST, including travel medicine. As with the TST, many uncertainties remain with regard to the efficacy of the IGRAs. It is therefore essential to secure an accurate understanding of these assays‘ known efficacy, so that they be optimally used and only in context with proven effect.
This paper serves as a gateway review of several field and epidemiological investigations conducted across the United States (US) which have been compiled as a special supplement in a January 2011 number of the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal.
A new report, Tuberculosis surveillance in Europe 2009, a joint publication from ECDC and the WHO Regional Office for Europe to mark World Tuberculosis Day 2011, provides evidence for concern about the spread of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) and the persistence of TB among children.