Stop measles in Switzerland - The importance of travel medicine.

BACKGROUND: In line with the worldwide strive to combat measles, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Heath (FOPH) launched a National Strategy for measles elimination 2011-2015. In this study, we highlight the importance of travel medicine consultations to complement measles vaccination programmes based on data from the Travel Clinic of the University of Zurich. METHOD: We analysed measles vaccination data from the Zurich Travel Clinic between July 2010 and February 2016 and focused on three groups: (i) all clients who received the measles vaccination, (ii) all clients aged>two years who received the measles vaccination ("catch-up vaccination"), and (iii) all clients aged>two years and born after 1963 ("FOPH recommended catch-up vaccination"). RESULTS: 107,669 consultations were performed from 2010 to 2016. In 12,470 (11.6%) of these, a measles vaccination was administered; 90.9% measles vaccinations were given during a pre-travel consultation, and 99.4% were administered to individuals aged>two years ("catch-up vaccinations"). An "FOPH recommended catch-up vaccination" was received by 13.6% of all Zurich Travel Clinic clients aged >2years and born after 1963. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we highlight the importance of travel medicine consultations to enhance the measles vaccination coverage in the adult Swiss population.

Safety and immunogenicity of a candidate bioconjugate vaccine against Shigella dysenteriae type 1 administered to healthy adults: A single blind, partially randomized Phase I study.

BACKGROUND: Shigellae cause severe disease in endemic countries, especially in children. Several efficacy trials have been conducted with candidate vaccines against Shigellae, but the lack of protection, the safety concerns, or manufacturing challenges hindered successful market approval. Conjugated vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective for different pathogens (i.e., Neisseria meningitidis, Shigella pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae). The bio-conjugation technology, exploited here for the Shigella dysenteriae candidate vaccine, offers a novel and potentially simpler way to develop and produce vaccines against one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. METHODS: A novel S. dysenteriae bioconjugate vaccine (GVXN SD133) made of the polysaccharide component of the Shigella O1 lipopolysaccharide, conjugated to the exotoxin protein A of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (EPA), was evaluated for immunogenicity and safety in healthy adults in a single blind, partially randomized Phase I study. Forty subjects (10 in each dose group; 2 µg or 10 µg with or without aluminium adjuvant) received two injections 60 days apart and were followed-up for 150 days. RESULTS: Both doses and formulations were well tolerated; the safety and reactogenicity profiles were consistent with that of other conjugated vaccines, adjuvanted or not, independent of the dose and the number of injections. The GVXN SD133 vaccine elicited statistically significant O1 specific humoral responses at all time points in all vaccination groups. Between-group comparisons did not show statistically significant differences in geometric mean titers of immunoglobulin G and A at any post-vaccination time point. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that the GVXN SD133 vaccine has a satisfactory safety profile. It elicited a significant humoral response to Shigella O1 polysaccharides at all doses tested. The protein carrier also elicited functional antibodies, showing the technology's advantages in preserving both sugar and conjugated protein epitopes. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01069471).