Publications by authors named "Hejer Letaief"
Background: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple vaccines to protect against COVID-19 disease have been developed rapidly. Precise estimates of vaccine effectiveness (VE) vary according to studies design, outcomes measured and circulating variants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-covid-19 vaccine effectiveness in Tunisia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe extent of the SARS-CoV-2 circulation and the COVID-19 epidemic in Tunisia three months after virus circulation was unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection among household contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases living in Hot spot areas of Great Tunis, Tunisia by estimating the seroprevalence of antibodies anti SARS-CoV-2 and to identify factors associated to seroprevalence at the first stage of the pandemic in order to guide decision making and to constitute a baseline for further longitudinal analysis of protective immunity to SARS-CoV-2. The National Observatory of New and Emerging Diseases (ONMNE), Ministry of Health Tunisia (MoH), with the support of the Office of the World Health Organization Representative in Tunisia and the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO)), conducted a household cross-sectional survey on April 2020 in Great Tunis (Tunis, Ariana, Manouba and Ben Arous).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- There is a lack of national studies on HPV genotype distribution in Tunisia, making it difficult to evaluate the burden of cervical cancer that could be prevented by vaccines.
- A national survey conducted between December 2012 and December 2014 analyzed HPV prevalence in a sample of 1,517 Tunisian women, finding an overall infection rate of 7.8%.
- Key risk factors identified included residing in the Grand Tunis region, marital status, smoking, occupation, and having multiple sexual partners, highlighting the need for increased HPV vaccination efforts and cervical cancer prevention programs in Tunisia.
Background: In the 1980s, Tunisia was considered a country of high endemicity for hepatitis A virus (HAV). Since 2000, an epidemiologic shift has led to an increased incidence of symptomatic and severe forms of HAV infection.
Objectives: In 2015, we conducted a cross-sectional nationwide household-based hepatitis A virus (HAV) seroprevalence study in the total population regardless of age, sex, or geographic origin using a stratified sampling design to make an overview of the HAV epidemiologic situation in Tunisia before vaccine implementation.
Background: The aim of this study was to characterize the transmission chains and clusters of COVID-19 infection in Tunisia.
Methods: All cases were confirmed by Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction of a nasopharyngeal specimen. Contact tracing is undertaken for all confirmed cases in order to identify close contacts that will be systematically screened and quarantined.
Background: The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to constitute an international public health concern. Few data are available on the duration and prognostic factors of the disease. We aimed to study the recovery time among a Tunisian cohort of COVID-19 confirmed patients and identify the prognostic factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Describing transmission dynamics of the outbreak and impact of intervention measures are critical to planning responses to future outbreaks and providing timely information to guide policy makers decision. We estimate serial interval (SI) and temporal reproduction number (R) of SARS-CoV-2 in Tunisia.
Methods: We collected data of investigations and contact tracing between March 1, 2020 and May 5, 2020 as well as illness onset data during the period February 29-May 5, 2020 from National Observatory of New and Emerging Diseases of Tunisia.