BACKGROUND: Vaccines against hepatitis A and typhoid fever are well established and have an excellent safety and immunogenicity profile. Yet these diseases, which share the same geographic distribution, remain an important cause of morbidity in travelers to endemic countries. Combined vaccination provides dual protection and improves compliance and coverage for travelers. METHODS: This multicenter study evaluated the consistency of three lots of combined hepatitis A and typhoid fever vaccine. A total of 462 healthy subjects, aged 15-50 years, were enrolled and randomly allocated to 3 groups. The single dose of vaccine contains 25 microg typhoid Vi polysaccharide and at least 1,440 ELISA units of inactivated hepatitis A in a 1 mL dose. RESULTS: Bioequivalence of all production lots was shown in terms of safety and immunogenicity. Pain at injection site was the most frequent reported local symptom, and headache was the most frequent reported general symptom. As early as 14 days after immunization >95% of the subjects were positive for anti-Vi antibodies and >86% were positive for anti-HAV antibodies. The GMTs and seropositivity rates were maintained during the 6 month follow-up. CONCLUSION: The first combined vaccine against typhoid fever and hepatitis A was safe and elicited a very good immune response, with the majority of subjects seropositive at 1 month for both antigens. This combined vaccine offered more convenience and rapid seroconversion to travelers.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Imported schistosomiasis in Europe: sentinel surveillance data from TropNetEurop.

BACKGROUND: Schistosomiasis is a major parasitic disease, increasingly imported into temperate climates by immigrants from and travelers to endemic areas. METHOD: To generate valid data on imported infectious diseases to Europe and to recognize trends over time, the European Network on Imported Infectious Diseases Surveillance (TropNetEurop) was founded in 1999. Three hundred and thirty-three reports of schistosomiasis were analyzed for epidemiologic and clinical features. RESULTS: Male patients accounted for 64% of all cases. The average age of all patients was 29.5 years. The majority of patients were of European origin (53%). Europeans traveled predominantly for tourism (52%). Main reasons for travel for people from endemic areas were immigration and refuge (51%) and visits to relatives and friends (28%). The majority of infections were acquired in Africa; 92 infections were clearly attributable to Schistosoma haematobium, 130 to Schistosoma mansoni, and 4 to Schistosoma intercalatum. Praziquantel was the only treatment used. No deaths were recorded. CONCLUSION: TropNetEurop sentinel provides valuable epidemiologic and clinical data on imported schistosomiasis to Europe.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Perispondylitis psoriatica].

In their brief paper the authors draw attention to the rapid development of morphological changes on the axial skeleton in a patient with psoriasis vulgaris. They give a brief account of the classification of spinal and paraspinal ossifications in seronegative spondarthritis, spondyloses and other spondylopathies. The described case-history pertains to a paraspinal ossification and the authors try to explain why they assume that the term "Perispondylitis psoriatica" is quite justified.

Adult↗