Circulation of pertussis and poor protection against diphtheria among middle-aged adults in 18 European countries

Reported incidence of pertussis in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) varies and may not reflect the real situation, while vaccine-induced protection against diphtheria and tetanus seems sufficient. We aimed to determine the seroprevalence of DTP antibodies in EU/EEA countries within the age groups of 40-49 and 50-59 years. Eighteen countries collected around 500 samples between 2015 and 2018 (N = 10,302) which were analysed for IgG-DTP specific antibodies. The proportion of sera with pertussis toxin antibody levels ≥100 IU/mL, indicative of recent exposure to pertussis was comparable for 13/18 countries, ranging between 2.7-5.8%. For diphtheria the proportion of sera lacking the protective level (</p

Systematic Genomic Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 Virus on Illumina Sequencing Platforms in the Slovak Republic&mdash;One Year Experience

To explore a genomic pool of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during the pandemic, the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic formed a genomics surveillance workgroup, and the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic launched a systematic national epidemiological surveillance using whole-genome sequencing (WGS). Six out of seven genomic centers implementing Illumina sequencing technology were involved in the national SARS-CoV-2 virus sequencing program. Here we analyze a total of 33,024 SARS-CoV-2 isolates collected from the Slovak population from 1 March 2021, to 31 March 2022, that were sequenced and analyzed in a consistent manner. Overall, 28,005 out of 30,793 successfully sequenced samples met the criteria to be deposited in the global GISAID database. During this period, we identified four variants of concern (VOC)&mdash;Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Delta (B.1.617.2) and Omicron (B.1.1.529). In detail, we observed 165 lineages in our dataset, with dominating Alpha, Delta and Omicron in three major consecutive incidence waves. This study aims to describe the results of a routine but high-level SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance program. Our study of SARS-CoV-2 genomes in collaboration with the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic also helped to inform the public about the epidemiological situation during the pandemic

Circulation of pertussis and poor protection against diphtheria among middle-aged adults in 18 European countries

International audienceReported incidence of pertussis in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) varies and may not reflect the real situation, while vaccine-induced protection against diphtheria and tetanus seems sufficient. We aimed to determine the seroprevalence of DTP antibodies in EU/EEA countries within the age groups of 40–49 and 50–59 years. Eighteen countries collected around 500 samples between 2015 and 2018 (N = 10,302) which were analysed for IgG-DTP specific antibodies. The proportion of sera with pertussis toxin antibody levels ≥100 IU/mL, indicative of recent exposure to pertussis was comparable for 13/18 countries, ranging between 2.7–5.8%. For diphtheria the proportion of sera lacking the protective level (<0.1 IU/mL) varied between 22.8–82.0%. For tetanus the protection was sufficient. Here, we report that the seroprevalence of pertussis in these age groups indicates circulation of B. pertussis across EU/EEA while the lack of vaccine-induced seroprotection against diphtheria is of concern and deserves further attention