Prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections in France in 2004: social factors are important predictors after adjusting for known risk factors.

To monitor the prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C a cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2004 among French metropolitan residents. A complex sampling design was used to enroll 14,416 adult participants aged 18-80 years. Data collected included demographic and social characteristics and risk factors.

Assessment and proposal of a new combination of screening criteria for hepatitis C in France.

Background: The current French hepatitis C virus infection screening programme is not yet reaching all populations at risk. In order to better identify individuals that would benefit from a screening test, we investigated an expanded combination of personal characteristics as potential screening criteria for this infection.

Methods: We constructed two multiple-regression models predicting hepatitis C antibody seropositivity using the population sample from the 2004 French national hepatitis C antibody seroprevalence survey (SPS) (n = 14 416): one representing current screening guidelines and another constructed from personal characteristics collected for the SPS.

Introduction of SARS in France, March-April, 2003.

We describe severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in France. Patients meeting the World Health Organization definition of a suspected case underwent a clinical, radiologic, and biologic assessment at the closest university-affiliated infectious disease ward. Suspected cases were immediately reported to the Institut de Veille Sanitaire.

Outbreak of serogroup W135 meningococcal disease after the Hajj pilgrimage, Europe, 2000.

The 2000 Hajj (March 15-18) was followed by an outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis W135 2a: P1.2,5 in Europe. From March 18 to July 31, 2000, some 90 cases of meningococcal infection were reported from nine countries, mostly the United Kingdom (UK) and France; 14 cases were fatal.