Commitment of Parents and Doctors of Irkutsk City to Vaccination against Tick-Borne Encephalitis

Today in Irkutsk region, we face a noticeable increase in the number of cases of ixodid tick sucking to urban residents. Ticks, found in the territory of Irkutsk city, were detected to have all currently known pathogens causing such serious diseases as tick-borne encephalitis, tick-borne borreliosis, monocytic ehrlichiosis, granulocytic anaplasmosis, rickettsiosis and tick-borne recurrent fever. These diseases may develop to severe  forms, and lead to disability or even death.  The aim of the study was to evaluate the opinion of parents and doctors on vaccination against tick-borne viral encephalitis in Irkutsk based on the data of an anonymous questionnaire survey.Material and methods. The descriptive retrospective epidemiological study was conducted between November 2018 and January 2019. It included 1620 parents and 193 doctors of various specialties in Irkutsk. Statistical processing of the material was carried out using Excel tables (Windows 2010) and the Statistica 6.0 program.Results and discussion. In general, the attitude towards vaccination looks positive – 98 % of the parents vaccinate their children. 11.3 % of parents vaccinate their children from tick-borne encephalitis, 23.3 % of doctors vaccinate themselves. Every fourth doctor vaccinates his child against this infection.Conclusion. Insufficient vaccination coverage against tick-borne encephalitis is noted both among the population and among doctors of Irkutsk. It is important to introduce health education for the population and to adopt new ways for improving the qualifications of doctors in immunization issues

Retrospective of International Serological Studies on the Formation and Dynamics of the Humoral Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2: from 2020 to 2021

Last year the COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has started. The new coronavirus is highly contagious and causes severe complications. The mechanisms of humoral immunity and kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in a population are not well understood. Therefore, we aimed to summarize and analyze numerous global and Russian serological studies for understanding dynamics of the SARSCoV-2 humoral immune response and getting an accurate picture of the seroprevalence to SARS-CoV-2 in the world population. The PubMed and e-library databases were searched from February 2020 to March 2021 using terms “SARSCoV-2”, “antibodies”, “humoral immunity”. At the beginning of the pandemic first studies were cross-sectional by design and were responsible for determination of the seropositivity and for understanding the fundamental humoral immunity parameters of SARS-CoV-2. Since then, longitudinal seroepidemiological studies have been studying antibody kinetics. Seroconversion time for IgM, IgG antibodies varies, but most researchers report the seroconversion of IgM from the 1st to 14th days after the onset of clinical manifestations, and the seroconversion for IgG is around the 14th day with a concentration peak by the 21st day. Regarding seroprevalence we may say about low herd immunity at the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, global seroprevalence is about 10 %, and more than 20 % for regions with high incidence and among healthcare workers. Seroprevalence studies have to be continued for more accurate monitoring of long-term humoral immunity to SARS-CoV-2, because the majority of the world’s population is still susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection

Indicators of the Immune Status in Children after a New Coronavirus Infection

Background. The mechanism of the immune response in patients with COVID-19 is still poorly understood and differs from other respiratory infections. Immunodeficiencies and age-related characteristics of immunity can be regarded as factors influencing reinfection and a predisposition to prolonged persistence of SARS-CoV-2. Most of the studies report about post-infection immunity to SARS-CoV-2 for adults and less for children. However, understanding the dynamics of antibody production to SARS-CoV-2 among children as well as other unique features of immune response is extremely important, because this provides to avoid possible complications and long-term outcomes of COVID-19, and predict the epidemic spread of the new coronavirus in the organized groups of children such as kindergartens, schools, study groups and clubs.Aim: to evaluate the humoral and cellular immunity after SARS-CoV-2 infection in children.Materials and methods. We reported data of the first phase prospective cohort study of immunity among 60 children living in Irkutsk, Russia within a month after SARS-CoV-2 infection, which took place in October and November 2020.Results. Immunity of children one month after SARS-Cov-2 infection was characterized by suppressed cell-mediated and humoral immunity, and phagocytosis dysfunction. Reduced phagocytosis by neutrophils was noted for 61.6 % of individuals.Conclusions. Children after COVID-19 had impaired immunity to SARS-CoV-2, which may be a predictor of chronic infection and other long-term outcomes of COVID-19

Comparison of attitude of Indian and Russian parents to children’s vaccination

Background. The vaccine preventable diseases outbreaks have become more frequent in recent decades and the lack of global vaccine awareness has been increasing and deteriorating vaccine compliance.   The aim. To assess the attitude towards vaccination of parents from India and Russia.   Methods. 1620 parents from Russia (Irkutsk city) and 214 parents from India (Kerala state) took part in the international cross-sectional multicenter study via survey method.   Results. Parents from both countries showed good adherence to vaccination, only 1 % of Indians and 2 % of Russians did not vaccinate their children. More than 90 % of Russians took information from pediatricians compared with other sources with a prevalence of pediatricians working in the public health system 91.7 % (95 % CI: 90.2–92.9), whereas only 50 % of Indians were informed about vaccination from pediatricians (p < 0.0001). The main source of vaccine information for Indian parents was Internet (52.8 %; 95 % CI: 46.1–59.3) and mass-media (83.6 %; 95% CI: 78.1–87.9), whereas Russians resorted to this source much less (0.3 %; 95 % CI: 0.1–0.7 for Internet; and 4.3 %; 95 % CI: 3.4–5.4 for mass-media; p < 0.0001). Interestingly, while the vast majority of Russians received information about vaccination from a pediatrician, 71.2 % (95 % CI: 68.9–73.3) wanted to know more. Indians suffered from a lack of information too, but not as much (63.1 %; 95 % CI: 56.4–69.3; p = 0.01).   Conclusion. Despite of a good attitude to vaccination of parents from India and Russia the lack of vaccine information was registered

Attitude and awareness of Indian parents from Kerala state towards children’s vaccination at the COVID-19 pandemic background

Background. Vaccination coverage of children in India is not sufficient since the COVID-19 pandemic (less than 90 %). This may lead to low adherence of parents to children’s vaccination.The aim. To study parental attitudes and awareness towards children vaccination programs in India at the COVID-19 pandemic background.Methods. Two hundred and fourteen participants from Kerala state (India) took part in the descriptive cross-sectional study via survey method. The survey was prepared with Google form according the principles of anonymity.Results. Indian parents demonstrated good adherence towards children’s vaccination, 98.6 % (95% confidence interval (CI): 95.9–99.5) of them vaccinated their child, and if vaccination appointment had to be rescheduled 84.6 % (95% CI: 79.1–88.8) of  them vaccinated children after. Most of Indians (68.7  %; 95%  CI: 62.1–74.5) preferred to vaccinate children in state clinics, however, 28.5 % (95% CI: 22.8–34.8) chose private clinics. Information about diseases that vaccines can prevent, vaccine safety, and side effects 47.2 % (95% CI: 40.6–53.8) of parents got from public pediatricians, 50.9 % (95% CI: 44.2–57.5) – from private pediatricians, and 10.3 % (95% CI: 6.8–15.0) – from complementary and alternative medicine practitioners. Over 80 % of Indians were informed about vaccination through mass media (83.6%; 95% CI: 78.1–87.9). Indian parents showed low awareness about vaccination, because 63.1 % (95% CI: 56.4–69.2) of parents wanted to know more about vaccination. Moreover, before vaccination 21.5 % (95% CI: 16.5–27.4) of them were not informed by a doctor about health benefits and possible risks for their children.Conclusion. In the COVID-19 pandemic Indian parents showed good attitude towards vaccination and low awareness in vaccination questions