Drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis of the Beijing genotype does not spread in Sweden.

Background: Drug resistant (DR) and multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) is increasing worldwide. In some parts of the world 10% or more of new TB cases are MDR. The Beijing genotype is a distinct genetic lineage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is distributed worldwide, and has caused large outbreaks of MDR-TB.

COPD and the risk of tuberculosis--a population-based cohort study.

Background: Both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and tuberculosis (TB) primarily affect the lungs and are major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. COPD and TB have common risk factors such as smoking, low socioeconomic status and dysregulation of host defence functions. COPD is a prevalent co-morbid condition, especially in elderly with TB but in contrast to other diseases known to increase the risk of TB, relatively little is known about the specific relationship and impact from COPD on TB-incidence and mortality.

Evidence of protective effect of BCG vaccination in persons at low risk of tuberculosis in Nordic countries.

Setting: Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland have low incidence rates (IRs) of tuberculosis (TB) but the use of bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination has varied.

Objective: To assess if different IRs among persons at low risk in the four countries could be related to the different use of BCG vaccination, and to estimate the number of adolescent BCG vaccinations needed to prevent one case of TB in Norway.

Design: The study period was 1996-2005.

Clinical features and incidence of Mycobacterium avium infections in children.

Mycobacterium avium is the most common pathogen in children presenting as non-tuberculous mycobacterial lymphadenitis. In Sweden non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection is a notifiable disease. The goal of our study was to determine the annual incidence of M.

Molecular epidemiology of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Sweden.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), including the more severe forms of multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant forms, is an increasing public health concern globally. In Sweden the majority of patients with TB are immigrants from countries with a high incidence of TB including the drug-resistant forms. In this study, the spread of resistant TB in Sweden was investigated by molecular fingerprinting.

Mycobacterium avium lymphadenopathy among children, Sweden.

We studied Mycobacterium avium lymphadenopathy in 183 Swedish children (<7 years of age) from 1998 through 2003. Seasonal variation in the frequency of the disease, with a peak in October and a low point in April, suggests cyclic environmental factors. We also found a higher incidence of the disease in children who live close to water.

Extensive transmission of an isoniazid-resistant strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Sweden.

Setting: City of Stockholm, Sweden.

Background: The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Sweden increased by 40% between 2003 and 2005. The spread of a unique TB strain resistant to isoniazid (INH) contributed to this increase.

Molecular and clinical characteristics of invasive group A streptococcal infection in Sweden.

Background: The incidence and severity of invasive group A streptococcal infection demonstrate great variability over time, which at least, in part, seems to be related to group A streptococcal type distribution among the human population.

Methods: An enhanced surveillance study of invasive group A streptococcal infection (746 isolates) was performed in Sweden from April 2002 through December 2004. Noninvasive isolates from either the throat or skin (773 isolates) were collected in parallel for comparison.

Selective BCG vaccination in a country with low incidence of tuberculosis.

In 1975 the BCG vaccination policy in Sweden changed from routine vaccination of all newborn infants to selective vaccination of groups at higher risk. This report aims to evaluate the present BCG policy, with focus on the tuberculosis situation in Sweden during the period from 1989 to 2005. The population structure in Sweden has changed, with increasing numbers and proportions of people who were born outside Sweden, especially in countries with high prevalence of tuberculosis.

Risk and case characteristics of tuberculosis in rheumatoid arthritis associated with tumor necrosis factor antagonists in Sweden.

Objective: Because treatment with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists may increase the risk of tuberculosis (TB), and because knowledge of the risk of TB in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) not treated with biologics is scarce and of uncertain generalizability to low-risk populations, this study sought to determine the risk of TB among Swedish patients with RA.

Methods: Using data from Swedish nationwide and population-based registers and data from an ongoing monitoring program of TNF antagonists, the relative risks of TB in patients with RA (versus the general population) and of TB associated with TNF antagonists (versus RA patients not treated with biologics) were determined by comparing the incidence of hospitalization for TB in 3 RA cohorts and 2 general population cohorts from 1999 to 2001. We also reviewed the characteristics of all reported cases of TB in RA patients treated with TNF antagonists in Sweden and calculated the incidence of TB per type of TNF antagonist between 1999 and 2004.

[Resistant tuberculosis is spreading in Sweden. Molecular epidemiological strain identification by "fingerprinting" can make the infection tracing easier].

Resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to antibiotics is a world wide problem. A study is reported with the aim to analyse the spread of resistant isolates of M tuberculosis complex from patients with tuberculosis in Sweden. The study is based on a sample of 192 M tuberculosis complex isolates from patients with drug resistant tuberculosis during 1994-2000.

Invasive group A streptococcal infections in Sweden in 1994 and 1995: epidemiology and clinical spectrum.

A nationwide study of invasive group A streptococcal (GAS) infections in Sweden during 1994-1995 was carried out. All Swedish microbiological laboratories were asked to report isolates of GAS from normally sterile sites. During the study period they were also asked to send their isolates for T typing.

[Shortages in Swedish tuberculosis care. Good results only in 71 percent of cases after 12-month treatment as shown in a current study].

During the period August 1994-December 1995 783 cases of active tuberculos (TB) were notified to the health authorities in Sweden. By means of questionnaires sent to the consulting physicians (92 per cent response rate) the treatment outcome was studied twelve months after the diagnosis. Out of 676 patients only 71 per cent were reported to have completed the treatment and be cured of TB.

Perspective: a five-country analysis of the impact of four different Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugates and vaccination strategies in Scandinavia.

Prior to vaccinations against invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) diseases in Scandinavia, first initiated in Finland in 1986, the incidence of cases in those five countries was 49/100,000/year in 0- to 4-year-olds and 3.5/100,000 overall. During the following decade, Hib conjugates administered to young children had approximately 95% effectiveness, regardless of which conjugate was used, whether two or three primary doses were administered, and at what age in early infancy the first vaccination was given.

[Policy program to minimize spread of infection. Prolonged cough may be a sign of tuberculosis].

In a worldwide epidemiological perspective, Sweden is well favoured with an annual tuberculosis incidence of approximately six cases per 100,000 of the population. Neither the impact of the HIV pandemic nor the occurrence of multiresistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has yet become a major problem in the care of tuberculosis patients in Sweden. Only a few per cent of HIV patients have developed tuberculosis, and during the period, 1991-94, only one per cent of M.

Incidence and prognosis of meningitis due to Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis in Sweden.

The incidence, concomitant conditions and case fatality rate of Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) and pneumococcal meningitis and of invasive meningococcal infections were studied retrospectively in Sweden (population 8.4 million) for the years 1987-89, the period before vaccination against Hi type b started. A total of 1,019 cases with culture-verified infection were found.

The impact of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccination in Sweden.

The number of patients with meningitis and bacteremia due to Haemophilus influenzae was studied in Sweden over the period 1987-1994. Conjugated H. influenzae type b vaccines were introduced in Sweden in 1992, and all children born after December 31, 1992, were offered vaccination free of charge.

Atypical mycobacteria in extrapulmonary disease among children. Incidence in Sweden from 1969 to 1990, related to changing BCG-vaccination coverage.

Setting: In April 1975, the general BCG vaccination of newborns in Sweden was replaced by selective vaccination of groups at increased risk of tuberculosis.

Objective: To relate the incidence of atypical mycobacterial disease in children to BCG vaccination.

Design: A nationwide survey in Sweden during the period 1969-90 disclosed 390 children under 15 years of age with bacteriologically confirmed atypical mycobacteria from extrapulmonary lesions.

Mycobacterial infections in Sweden.

The incidence of tuberculosis has continued to decline in the Swedish-born population, but there has been an increase in the foreign-born population, especially among young adults and children. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is still rare in Sweden. The annual number of patients with culture confirmed atypical mycobacteria, especially of M.

[Tuberculosis control in Scandinavia].

Compared with the rest of the world, the situation regarding tuberculosis is favourable in the Nordic countries. In 1993, the incidence for persons born in respective country (per 100,000 of the population) was 4.1 in Denmark, 3.

Adverse reactions in healthy and immunocompromised children under six years of age vaccinated with the Danish BCG vaccine, strain Copenhagen 1331: implications for the vaccination policy in Sweden.

A retrospective analysis of the adverse reactions reported between 1979 and 1991, in the 139,000 children under six years of age vaccinated in Sweden with the Danish BCG vaccine, strain Copenhagen 1331, showed an incidence of 1.9 per 1000 vaccinated children. Regional lymphoglandular swellings and/or abscesses were most commonly reported in 1.