Comparison of whole-cell versus acellular pertussis vaccine effectiveness in school clusters of pertussis, France, 2013.

Objectives And Method: We conducted a prospective study in 2013 to compare the whole-cell versus acellular pertussis vaccines effectiveness and duration of protection, following the occurrence of pertussis clusters.

Results: During seven school outbreaks, we identified 102 clinical pertussis cases, including 10 cases biologically confirmed by Bordetella pertussis specific PCR, among a cohort of 305 children in 2nd to 6th grade. The risk of pertussis when vaccinated with an acellular vaccine alone was 1.

Strengthened Ebola surveillance in France during a major outbreak in West Africa: March 2014-January 2016.

Unlabelled: Introduction An unprecedented outbreak of Ebola virus diseases (EVD) occurred in West Africa from March 2014 to January 2016. The French Institute for Public Health implemented strengthened surveillance to early identify any imported case and avoid secondary cases.

Methods: Febrile travellers returning from an affected country had to report to the national emergency healthcare hotline.

Do traditional sheep breeders perform conscious selection? An example from a participatory breeding program of Morada Nova sheep.

The implementation of sustainable breeding programs requires genetic breeding strategies that are appropriate for the reality production systems. It is also essential that the choice of animal selection criteria be based on breeders' knowledge and objectives. This work is an ethno-zootechnical study of the Morada Nova sheep breed and its crossbreeds.

Diphtheria in Mayotte, 2007-2015.

Epidemiology of diphtheria in the southwestern Indian Ocean is poorly documented. We analyzed 14 cases of infection with toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae reported during 2007-2015 in Mayotte, a French department located in this region. Local control of diphtheria is needed to minimize the risk for importation of the bacterium into disease-free areas.

Cost-effectiveness of a herpes zoster vaccination program among the French elderly people.

A vaccine against herpes zoster (HZ) and its complications has already proven safe and effective against infection and pain and against the related deterioration of quality of life in the elderly. In order to inform the vaccination decision-making process regarding inclusion of this vaccine in the French immunization schedule, we assessed the cost-effectiveness of several vaccination scenarios, compared to no vaccination. We chose to use a previously published Markov model.

Intensive care unit surveillance of influenza infection in France: the 2009/10 pandemic and the three subsequent seasons.

During the 2009/10 pandemic, a national surveillance system for severe influenza cases was set up in France. We present results from the system's first four years. All severe influenza cases admitted to intensive care units (ICU) were reported to the Institut de Veille Sanitaire using a standardised form: data on demographics, immunisation and virological status, risk factors, severity (e.

Monitoring the Impact of Vaccination on Pertussis in Infants Using an Active Hospital-based Pediatric Surveillance Network: Results from 17 Years' Experience, 1996-2012, France.

Background: Despite a high vaccine coverage in France in children, a resurgence of pertussis in infants too young to be protected by vaccination was observed in the 1990 s, leading to additional vaccination strategies in older age groups. This article describes the epidemiologic trends and characteristics of cases among infants 0-5 months of age during 17 years of pertussis surveillance through Renacoq.

Methods: Renacoq is a sentinel hospital-based voluntary surveillance network covering about 30% of hospitalized pertussis pediatric cases.

Impact of influenza vaccination on mortality in the French elderly population during the 2000-2009 period.

With declining influenza vaccine coverage in the elderly in recent years in France, we aimed at assessing the benefits of seasonal influenza vaccination, based on available data for observed mortality, vaccine coverage and vaccine effectiveness. To estimate the annual number of deaths avoided by vaccination in the people aged 65 years or more, we used the following three elements: an estimate of vaccine effectiveness against all-cause mortality (based on the "difference-in-differences" approach which reduces the usual bias seen in observational studies), French mortality data and vaccine coverage data. We estimated an annual average of 2000 deaths currently avoided through vaccination and a vaccine effectiveness of 35% against influenza-attributable deaths.

Toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans in a fatal human case and her feline contacts, France, March 2014.

In March 2014, a person in their eighties who was diagnosed with extensive cellulitis due to toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans died from multiple organ failure. Environmental investigation also isolated C. ulcerans in biological samples from two stray cats in contact with the case.

First estimates of influenza vaccine effectiveness among severe influenza cases, France, 2011/12.

Following a suspected virus-vaccine mismatch, the screening method was used to estimate in almost real time the influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) against severe cases in high-risk individuals. Data on vaccination status were provided by the influenza severe surveillance system and data on vaccination coverage by the National Social Security Scheme. The analysis showed a decline of the vaccine effectiveness in 2011/12 (VE: 30% (95% CI: 22-39)) compared to 2010/11 (VE: 53% (95% CI: 40-67)).

Diphtheria in the south of France, March 2011.

In March 2011, a 40 year-old French man was diagnosed with diphtheria caused by toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Fifty-three close contacts were identified from whom throat samples were analysed. C.

Psittacosis outbreak after participation in a bird fair, Western France, December 2008.

In December 2008, three hospitalized cases of suspected psittacosis infection were notified by respiratory disease clinicians from a local hospital to the Regional Epidemiology Unit of Pays de la Loire, France. They all had attended a bird fair. A retrospective cohort study was conducted among exhibitors and organizers to identify potential risk factors in relation to this fair.