TY  - JOUR
A1  - Streng, Andrea
A1  - Grote, Veit
A1  - Carr, David
A1  - Hagemann, Christine
A1  - Liese, Johannes G.
T1  - Varicella routine vaccination and the effects on varicella epidemiology – results from the Bavarian Varicella Surveillance Project (BaVariPro), 2006-2011
JF  - BMC Infectious Diseases
N2  - Background

In 2004, routine varicella vaccination was recommended in Germany for children 11-14 months of age with one dose, and since 2009, with a second dose at 15-23 months of age. The effects on varicella epidemiology were investigated.

Methods

Data on varicella vaccinations, cases and complications were collected from annual parent surveys (2006-2011), monthly paediatric practice surveillance (Oct 2006 - Sep 2011; five varicella seasons) and paediatric hospital databases (2005-2009) in the area of Munich (about 238,000 paediatric inhabitants); annual incidences of cases and hospitalisations were estimated.

Results

Varicella vaccination coverage (1st dose) in children 18-36 months of age increased in two steps (38%, 51%, 53%, 53%, 66% and 68%); second-dose coverage reached 59% in the 2011 survey. A monthly mean of 82 (62%) practices participated; they applied a total of 50,059 first-dose and 40,541 second-dose varicella vaccinations, with preferential use of combined MMR-varicella vaccine after recommendation of two doses, and reported a total of 16,054 varicella cases <17 years of age. The mean number of cases decreased by 67% in two steps, from 6.6 (95%CI 6.1-7.0) per 1,000 patient contacts in season 2006/07 to 4.2 (95%CI 3.9-4.6) in 2007/08 and 4.0 (95%CI 3.6-4.3) in 2008/09, and further to 2.3 (95%CI 2.0-2.6) in 2009/10 and 2.2 (95%CI 1.9-2.5) in 2010/11. The decrease occurred in all paediatric age groups, indicating herd protection effects. Incidence of varicella was estimated as 78/1,000 children <17 years of age in 2006/07, and 19/1,000 in 2010/11. Vaccinated cases increased from 0.3 (95%0.2-0.3) per 1,000 patient contacts in 2006/07 to 0.4 (95%CI 0.3-0.5) until 2008/09 and decreased to 0.2 (95%CI 0.2-0.3) until 2010/11. The practices treated a total of 134 complicated cases, mainly with skin complications. The paediatric hospitals recorded a total of 178 varicella patients, including 40 (22.5%) with neurological complications and one (0.6%) fatality due to varicella pneumonia. Incidence of hospitalisations decreased from 7.6 per 100,000 children <17 years of age in 2005 to 4.3 in 2009, and from 21.0 to 4.7 in children <5 years of age.

Conclusions

Overall, the results show increasing acceptance and a strong impact of the varicella vaccination program, even with still suboptimal vaccination coverage.
KW  - Varicella
KW  - Surveillance
KW  - Coverage
KW  - Vaccination
KW  - Hospitalisation
KW  - Paediatric
KW  - Incidence
Y1  - 2013
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-96297
UR  - http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/13/303
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Groß, Uwe
A1  - Amuzu, Sylvarius K.
A1  - de Ciman, Ring
A1  - Kassimova, Iparkhan
A1  - Groß, Lisa
A1  - Rabsch, Wolfgang
A1  - Rosenberg, Ulrike
A1  - Schulze, Marco
A1  - Stich, August
A1  - Zimmermann, Ortrud
T1  - Bacteremia and Antimicrobial Drug Resistance over Time, Ghana
JF  - Emerging Infectious Diseases
N2  - Bacterial distribution and antimicrobial drug resistance were monitored in patients with bacterial bloodstream infections in rural hospitals in Ghana. In 2001-2002 and in 2009, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi was the most prevalent pathogen. Although most S. enterica serovar Typhi isolates were chloramphenicol resistant, all isolates tested were susceptible to ciprofloxacin.
KW  - Typhoid-fever
KW  - Children
KW  - Surveillance
KW  - Kenya
Y1  - 2011
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-133805
N1  - All material published in Emerging Infectious Diseases is in the public domain and may be used and reprinted without special permission; proper citation, however, is required.
VL  - 17
IS  - 10
ER  -