Yellow fever vaccine. Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 2002.

This report updates CDC's recommendations for using yellow fever vaccine (CDC. Yellow Fever Vaccine: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunizations Practices: MMWR 1990;39[No. RR-6]1-6).

Rare disease surveillance: An international perspective.

Background: The International Network of Paediatric Surveillance Units (INoPSU) was established in 1998 and met formally for the first time in Ottawa, Ontario in June 2000.

Objectives: To document the methodology and activities of existing national paediatric surveillance units; the formation of INoPSU; the diseases studied by INoPSU members; and the impact of such studies on education, public health and paediatric practice.

Methods: Directors of paediatric surveillance units in Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Latvia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Switzerland were asked to provide information on each unit's affiliations, funding and staffing; the method of case ascertainment, the mailing list and response rates; and diseases studied.

The Immunization Monitoring Program Active (IMPACT) prospective five year study of Canadian children hospitalized for chickenpox or an associated complication.

Background: Varicella vaccine was approved for use in Canada in 1998. A major goal of universal varicella vaccine programs is to reduce severe infection and associated complications. Baseline data are essential against which to judge the effectiveness of routine childhood immunization.

Relationship between antenatal group B streptococcal vaginal colonization and premature labour.

Objective: To determine whether a population of pregnant women with group B streptococcal (GBS) vaginal colonization had an increased risk of specific epidemiological and intrapartum risk factors for early onset GBS disease.

Setting: Tertiary university centre in Ottawa, Ontario.

Design: Hospital-based retrospective cohort study.

Strategies for preventing early-onset group B streptococcal infection: Physicians' preferences and ratings of effectiveness and feasibility.

Objective: To determine the preferences of Canadian physicians for various strategies to prevent early-onset group B streptococcal (GBS) infection and the physicians' ratings of the effectiveness and feasibility of these strategies.

Design: Questionnaire survey.

Participants: Physicians working in primary or tertiary care settings in community-based and hospital-based practices.