Implementation of the French nationwide cystic fibrosis newborn screening program.

Objectives: To describe optimization of a nationwide newborn screening program for cystic fibrosis (CF) that combines an immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) assay and DNA mutation analysis in dried blood samples at day 3.

Study Design: Data from regional screening laboratories and CF care centers were centralized and periodically analyzed to allow adaptation, thus limiting the number of false-positive cases.

Results: A total of 2717905 infants were screened between 2002 and 2005.

Influenza burden of illness: estimates from a national prospective survey of household contacts in France.

Background: The burden of influenza among ambulatory patients is still relatively unknown, although this knowledge is crucial for evaluating strategies against influenza. We estimated the impact of influenza in terms of uncomplicated morbidity and its consequences on health care utilization and lost workdays.

Methods: A national prospective household contact study between January 4, 2000, and March 15, 2000, in France recruited the households of 946 persons who visited a physician (index cases); 395 households with influenza-positive index cases completed the follow-up, which assessed the clinical impact of influenza, medical visits, treatment, and lost workdays in these index cases and their contacts.