Preliminary results of European vaccine effectiveness study show decreased protective effect of the seasonal influenza vaccine in 2011/2012 season. ECDC Director Marc Sprenger calls for action.
In the autumn of 2011 a United States Government body, the NSABB established under the National Institutes of Health considered two scientific papers describing experimental work manipulating avian influenza viruses.
A pair of linked papers from Finland concerning the above topic, one epidemiological and the second combining both clinical and epidemiological were published on March 28th in the open access journal, PLoS One.(1,2).
This study, strong of an almost complete follow-up of all children born in Denmark from 2003 to 2008, provides evidence that the DTaP-IPV-HiB vaccine is not associated to an overall increased risk of febrile seizures and epilepsy.
This workshop enabled all to agree on the relevance of EPIS VPD to be used as a platform for the reporting and monitoring of measles outbreak in the EU, agree on the type of information to be reported, the nature of outbreaks to be notified and the further usage by ECDC (e.g. European Monthly Measles Monitoring1) and other Member States of data that will be shared through EPIS VPD by countries.
A number of animal models have been used to study how influenza viruses may work in humans: mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, and both cotton rats (Sigmodon) and ordinary rats (Rattus).
A meeting and a workshop on the ECDC point prevalence survey (PPS) of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in acute care hospitals took take place in London on 5-6 March 2012.
One of the most important functions and outputs of the laboratory aspect of the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) coordinated by WHO are biannual influenza vaccine strain selection meetings that take place each year around February and September. These scientific meetings make recommendations on the antigens to go into the influenza vaccines for the northern hemisphere (February meeting) and southern hemisphere seasons (September meeting).