Azithromycin to Prevent Pertussis in Household Contacts, Catalonia and Navarre, Spain, 2012-2013

We retrospectively assessed the effectiveness of azithromycin in preventing transmission of pertussis to a patient's household contacts. We also considered the duration between symptom onset in the primary patient and azithromycin administration. We categorized contacts into 4 groups: those treated within 21 days after illness onset in the primary patient. We studied 476 primary index patients and their 1,975 household contacts, of whom 4.5% were later identified as having pertussis. When contacts started chemoprophylaxis within 14 days after primary patient's symptom onset was less effective. We recommend that contacts of persons with pertussis begin chemoprophylaxis within <14 days after primary patient's symptom onset

Bilingualism for the Minor or the Major? An Evaluative Analysis of Parallel Conceptions in China

This paper is an analysis of two conceptions of bilingualism that exist in parallel in China. One is traditional bilingualism referring to the use of a native minority language and standard Chinese by minority groups and the other, seen as bilingualism with modern characteristics, is a modern-day phenomenon in which the majority Han group aspire to produce bilinguals with a strong competence in mother tongue Chinese and a foreign language, primarily English, by using Chinese and the foreign language as mediums of instruction in teaching school subjects. The focus of the analysis is on the latter for the simple reason that current literature on the new phenomenon is mostly available only in Chinese. An equally important aim of this paper is to explore the impact of the new phenomenon on minority education and to examine the reason why this impact is largely ignored in bilingualism discussions, despite obvious consequences with respect to ethnic identity, personality development and academic performance of minority students. Thus, the traditional conception is briefly reviewed at the start

Effectiveness of influenza vaccine against laboratory-confirmed influenza, in the late 2011-2012 season in Spain, among population targeted for vaccination

Background: In Spain, the influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) was estimated in the last three seasons using the observational study cycEVA conducted in the frame of the existing Spanish Influenza Sentinel Surveillance System. The objective of the study was to estimate influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) against medically attended, laboratory-confirmed influenza-like illness (ILI) among the target groups for vaccination in Spain in the 2011-2012 season. We also studied influenza VE in the early (weeks 52/2011-7/2012) and late (weeks 8-14/2012) phases of the epidemic and according to time since vaccination. Methods: Medically attended patients with ILI were systematically swabbed to collect information on exposure, laboratory outcome and confounding factors. Patients belonging to target groups for vaccination and who were swabbed 4 months, respectively, since vaccination. A decrease in VE with time since vaccination was only observed in individuals aged ≥ 65 years. Regarding the phase of the season, decreasing point estimates were only observed in the early phase, whereas very low or null estimates were obtained in the late phase for the shortest time interval. Conclusions: The 2011-2012 influenza vaccine showed a low-to-moderate protective effect against medically attended, laboratory-confirmed influenza in the target groups for vaccination, in a late season and with a limited match between the vaccine and circulating strains. The suggested decrease in influenza VE with time since vaccination was mostly observed in the elderly population. The decreasing protective effect of the vaccine in the late part of the season could be related to waning vaccine protection because no viral changes were identified throughout the season

Plan de Acción en España para la erradicación de la poliomelitis: Vigilancia de la Parálisis Flácida Aguda y Vigilancia de Enterovirus en España. Informe 2020

Centro Nacional de Epidemiología y Centro Nacional de Microbiología. ISCIII. Plan de acción en España para la Erradicación de la Poliomielitis. Vigilancia de la Parálisis Flácida Aguda y Vigilancia de Enterovirus en España, Informe año 2020. Madrid, 5 de noviembre de 2021.[ES] En España la situación libre de polio se monitoriza con la vigilancia de Parálisis Flácida Aguda (PFA) en niños menores de 15 años, como recomienda la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS). La vigilancia la realizan los servicios de vigilancia autonómicos y la red de laboratorios de PFA y a nivel nacional se coordina en el Centro Nacional de Epidemiología (CNE, ISCIII) y en el Laboratorio de Poliovirus del Centro Nacional de Microbiología (CNM, ISCIII). En el año 2020 en España no hubo casos de poliomielitis. Se notificaron 0,17 casos de PFA por 100.000 niños menores de 15 años, por debajo del objetivo de sensibilidad establecido por la OMS de un caso de PFA al año por cada 100.000 menores de 15 años. Solamente se detectaron enterovirus no-polio (EVNP) en las muestras de dos casos (EV-D68 y EV-B, respectivamente). En España también se realiza la vigilancia de EVNP en otros síndromes neurológicos para complementar el sistema de vigilancia de PFA. En las muestras investigadas en 2020 no se identificó ningún poliovirus y los EVNP más frecuentemente identificados fueron E-18, CV-A6 y E-21. Mientras haya circulación de poliovirus en el mundo hay que mantener activos los sistemas de vigilancia para detectar a tiempo cualquier importación de poliovirus. [EN] Spain monitors its polio-free status by conducting surveillance for cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in children less than 15 years of age, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). The AFP surveillance is performed by the 19 Regional Epidemiological Surveillance Units and the AFP Surveillance Laboratory Network, coordinated at national level by the National Centre for Epidemiology (CNE. ISCIII) and the National Poliovirus Laboratory at Nacional Center of Microbiology (CNM. ISCIII) respectively. In 2020, no cases of poliomyelitis were reported from clinical surveillance; Spain reported 0.17 non-polio AFP cases per 100,000 children, below the WHO's performance criterion for a sensitive surveillance system (1 non-polio AFP cases per 100,000 children). The non-polio enteroviruses EV-D68, EV-B were identified from clinical specimens collected from AFP cases. Spain also performs enterovirus surveillance to complement the clinical system In 2020, non poliovirus were identified; The non-polioviruses E-18, CV-A6 y E-21 were the most frequently identified serotypes. As long as poliovirus is circulating in the world, surveillance systems must remain active to detect any importation of poliovirus in a timely manner.1. Resumen. 2. Introducción. 3. Resultados de la vigilancia de Parálisis Flácida Aguda (PFA) en España, 2020. 4. Resultados de la vigilancia de enterovirus, España 2020. 5. Resultados de la vigilancia medioambiental de poliovirus. España, 2020. 6. Sistema de Información Microbiológica (SIM). Meningitis por enterovirus. Tendencia. 7. Conclusiones.N

Mumps outbreak in young adults following a village festival in the Navarra region, Spain, August 2006

Since October 2006, the Spanish National Reference Laboratory has reported a series of isolations of Salmonella Kottbus on the island of Gran Canaria [1]. The fact that most of the cases were in infants under one year of age and needed hospitalisation, caused significant concern among the general public. Information published in the media contributed to this alarm. Outbreaks due to this Salmonella serotype are rare in the literature with only five outbreaks published since 1959 [2-6]. No cases of Salmonella Kottbus had been isolated and reported in Spain since 1996 [7,8]. We decided to conduct epidemiological and environmental studies to describe the characteristics of the cases and to determine the possible source of infection.Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank J Castilla Catalán, M Arriazu Berastegui and A Barricarte Gurrea from the Epidemiology Division of the Public Health Institute of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain for inviting fellows of the Spanish field epidemiology programme (PEAC) and for their support during the study and the coordinators of the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET)and PEAC for their supervision and support.S

Influenza vaccine effectiveness in Spain 2013/14: subtype-specific early estimates using the cycEVA study

Adjusted early estimates of the 2013/14 influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) in Spain for all age groups was 35% (95% CI: -9 to 62), 33% (95% CI: -33 to 67) and 28% (95% CI: -33 to 61) against any influenza virus type, A(H1N1)pdm09 and A(H3N2) viruses, respectively. For the population targeted for vaccination, the adjusted VE was 44% (95% CI: -11 to 72), 36% (95% CI: -64 to 75) and 42% (95% CI: -29 to 74), respectively. These preliminary results in Spain suggest a suboptimal protective effect of the vaccine against circulating influenza viruses.This work was supported from the Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 Programme of the Carlos III Institute of Health (GR09/0017 and PS12/00087). The GR09/0017 received additional funding from the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe)/United States CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and Epiconcept.S

Early estimates of the effectiveness of the 2011/12 influenza vaccine in the population targeted for vaccination in Spain, 25 December 2011 to 19 February 2012

We present early estimates of influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) in the population targeted for vaccination, during 25 December 2011 to 19 February 2012. The adjusted VE was 55% (95% CI: 3 to 79) against any type of influenza virus and 54% (95% CI: 1 to 79) against influenza A(H3N2) virus. This suggests a moderate protective effect of the vaccine in the targeted population in a late influenza epidemic with limited match between vaccine and circulating strains.We are grateful to sentinel GPs, paediatricians and virologists participating in the cycEVA study, as well as to all professionals participating in the Spanish Influenza Surveillance System. We thank Isabel Pachón y Aurora Limia (Coordinating Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies within the Spanish Ministry of Health and Social Policy) for the information provided on influenza vaccination. We also thank the EpiConcept team for their fruitful discussions and comments on the cycEVA study. This work was supported by the ECDC through the I-MOVE project and by the Carlos III Institute of Health (Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 Programme (GR09/0017)).S

Estimating influenza vaccine effectiveness in Spain using sentinel surveillance data

We aimed to estimate influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) against laboratory-confirmed influenza during three influenza seasons (2010/11 to 2012/2013) in Spain using surveillance data and to compare the results with data obtained by the cycEVA study, the Spanish component of the Influenza Monitoring Vaccine Effectiveness (I-MOVE) network. We used the test-negative case–control design, with data from the Spanish Influenza Sentinel Surveillance System (SISS) or from the cycEVA study. Cases were laboratory-confirmed influenza patients with the predominant influenza virus of each season, and controls were those testing negative for any influenza virus. We calculated the overall and age-specific adjusted VE. Although the number of patients recorded in the SISS was three times higher than that in the cycEVA study, the quality of information for important variables, i.e. vaccination status and laboratory results, was high in both studies. Overall, the SISS and cycEVA influenza VE estimates were largely similar during the study period. For elderly patients (> 59 years), the SISS estimates were slightly lower than those of cycEVA, and estimates for children (0–14 years) were higher using SISS in two of the three seasons studied. Enhancing the SISS by collecting the date of influenza vaccination and reducing the percentage of patients with incomplete information would optimise the system to provide reliable annual influenza VE estimates to guide influenza vaccination policies.S