In this study, the authors have combined a household method and a school study design to assess VE against mumps as well as VE against mumps infectiousness by comparing secondary attack rates in households of vaccinated and unvaccinated cases.
Despite a reduction in pertussis among younger children and infants, rates of pertussis-related sickness and death remain high compared with rates for other vaccine-preventable diseases in England and Wales.
In an editorial in the scientific journal Eurosurveillance, ECDC noted that, based on numerous studies, paediatricians, family practitioners and nurses form the backbone of each national immunisation programme in the EU.
The authors describe the epidemiology of invasive Hib and nontype b H. influenzae infections in children <15 years of age in the United Kingdom from 1994 until 2008, and show that the resurgence in Hib disease during the years 1999-2003 did not affect the epidemiology of invasive nontype b H. influenzae disease in children, which provides further support against serotype replacement.
Starting 15 September 2011, ECDC will be coordinating the former EUVAC.NET network. It is a surveillance network covering measles, mumps, rubella, congenital rubella, pertussis and varicella EU Member States and three countries of the European Economic Area. Data will be hosted by the European Surveillance System (TESSy) at ECDC.
In September 2010, two cases of autochthonous dengue fever were diagnosed in metropolitan France for the first time. The cases occurred in Nice, southeast France, where the vector Aedes albopictus is established.
Aedes aegypti is a highly specialized mosquito species feeding predominantly on humans and breeding in artificial water holding containers in urban areas, and currently restricted to subtropical and tropical areas. Williams et al. focus on the reasons why Ae. aegypti once occurred in locations where the mosquito does not occur anymore in Australia, the more temperate drier parts of the country.
The authors analyzed data from hospital admissions and enhanced mumps surveillance to assess mumps complications during the largest mumps outbreak in England and Wales, 2004–2005, and their association with mumps vaccination. When compared with non-outbreak periods, the outbreak was associated with a clear increase in hospitalized patients with orchitis, meningitis and pancreatitis. Routine mumps surveillance and hospital data showed that 6.1% of mumps patients were hospitalized, 4.4% had orchitis, 0.35% meningitis and 0.33% pancreatitis.