Pertussis Morbidity in Children 12-59 Months of Age: A NSW Public Health Network Study.

Background: Pertussis continues to be a significant public health problem despite high levels of vaccination. Although hospitalizations and deaths among children greater than 12 months of age are much less frequent than among infants less than 6 months of age, only limited information is available for this age group on other measures of morbidity.

Methods: A cross-sectional study with a 6-week follow-up component was conducted in New South Wales, Australia in 2017 to measure morbidity among children 12-59 months of age notified to health authorities.

The changing and dynamic epidemiology of meningococcal disease.

The epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease continues to change rapidly, even in the three years since the first Meningococcal Exchange Meeting in 2008. Control of disease caused by serogroup C has been achieved in countries that have implemented meningococcal C or quadrivalent meningococcal ACWY conjugate vaccines. Initiation of mass immunization programs with meningococcal A conjugate vaccines across the meningitis belt of Africa may lead to the interruption of cyclical meningococcal epidemics.

Modern trends in mortality from meningococcal disease in Australia.

Between 1979 and 2006, there were 610 deaths recorded as due to meningococcal disease in Australia. Mortality rates per capita consistently increased on average by 6% per annum between 1979 and 2002, but then fell significantly in 2003, coinciding with the introduction of the meningococcal C conjugate vaccine. In 2002, the mortality rate was 0.