Inmunización en las Américas. Resumen 2021

Los países de las Américas, con apoyo de la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS), han logrado avances notables al proporcionar a los niños y las niñas una protección general contra las enfermedades prevenibles mediante vacunación. Los niveles sostenidos de elevadas coberturas nacionales de vacunación, la erradicación de la poliomielitis, la interrupción de la transmisión endémica del virus del sarampión y las iniciativas más recientes en favor de la eliminación de la rubéola y el síndrome de rubéola congénita son hitos continentales de este progreso. En la actualidad, los países administran vacunas a grupos etarios distintos de los incluidos en los programas tradicionales de inmunización infantil. La introducción de la vacuna estacional contra la gripe en los adultos en riesgo; la vacunación de adolescentes y adultos, hombres y mujeres, para la eliminación de la rubéola, y la definición de la carga de enfermedad del cáncer cervicouterino son las actividades que apoyan la necesidad fundamental de efectuar una transición de los programas nacionales de inmunización infantil a programas de inmunización de la familia. Una de las funciones de la OPS en su apoyo a los países es difundir información que destaque el progreso de la Región y los desafíos que enfrenta. Con ese fin, publica varios documentos técnicos relacionados con la inmunización, tales como los boletines de inmunización, los módulos de capacitación en inmunización y la serie de guías prácticas sobre rubéola, sarampión, tétanos neonatal, poliomielitis, vacuna pentavalente y fiebre amarilla.

Associação entre meningite asséptica e uso da vacina tríplice viral(sarampo-caxumba-rubéola) durante campanha vacinal de 1997 / Association between aseptic meningitis and use of MMR vaccine, during the vaccination campaign, 1997

Em 1997 foi realizada uma campanha de vacinação em massa com a vacina tríplice víral (sarampo, caxumba, rubéola), em quatro Estados brasileiros: Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia, Piauí e Ceará. Três semanas após o principal dia de campanha, os diversos estados notificaram um aumento da incidência de casos de meningite asséptica (MA), especialmente nas capitais. Logo após, foi iniciada uma investigação desenvolvida pelos técnicos locais das Secretarias Estaduais de Saúde e por pesquisadores do Instituto de Saúde Coletiva e Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal da Bahia, com apoio do Programa Nacional de Imunizações - PNI. Os resultados dessa investigação demonstram a existência de um surto de meningite asséptica que se iniciou de forma abrupta 2-3 semanas após a vacinação nas capitais estudadas, e persistiu por 4 semanas. Foi demonstrado que o maior risco após o uso da vacina correspondeu a 21-30 dias, quando comparado com o risco de MA antes da campanha. Apenas em Salvador o surto ocasionou um excessivo aumento da ocupação hospitalar. Esse texto discute os determinantes da ocorrência de um evento adverso na forma de um surto, as implicações sobre uma adequada assistência médica, e o impacto da informação sobre a adesão da população às vacinas empregadas pelo PNI

In 1997 a mass vaccination campaign with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was carried out in four Brazilian states: Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia, Piauí and Ceará. Three weeks after the special vaccination day, an increase was observed in the number of cases of aseptic meningitis in the capitals of the four states. An investigation was undertaken by health professionals from the State Health Secretaries, professionals from the Institute of Collective Health and the Medical School of the Federal University of Bahia with the support of the National Immunization Program. The results of the investigation demonstrated the occurrence of an outbreak of aseptic meningitis which initiated abruptly two to three weeks after the special vaccination day, with a total duration of four week. It was also shown that the risk of aseptic meningitis was greater 21-30 days after exposure to the vaccine when compared to the risk before the campaign. Only in Salvador the outbreak caused an excess of cases that extrapolated the admission capability of the reference hospital for infectious diseases. This work discusses the determinants of the outbreak, the implications for adequate medical assistance and the implications regarding societal credibility of the safety of the vaccines used in the routine vaccination calendar.

Aspectos inmunológicos de la parotiditis epidémica / Immunological aspects of mumps

This study covered 497 recruits aged 20 who were drafted into a Cordoba city unit of the Argentine army for military training. Like other Cordoba units, this one is beset by epidemics of mumps almost every year and some of them are severe. Of the 497 individuals examined, 391 (78.7 percent) geve positive reactions to one or more laboratory tests including the cutaneous test and for that reason were considered to be an immune group; 99 (19.9 percent) gave a negative reaction and consequently belong to the non-immune group or probable susceptible persons; and the remaining 7 (1.4 percent) did not complete the test. Of the 391 persons in the immune group, 240 had a positive history. The total number of soldiers with a background of mumps was 274; in the case of 240 of them this was confirmed by laboratory tests (87.5 percent) which implies a high degree of correlation and shows that in this study a positive background was worthy of confidence. On the other hand, of the 223 individuals with a negative history, 150 (62 percent) were shown by laboratory tests to have had a previous attack of the disease. This percentage is of course too high to represent the real incidence of inapparent infection. It is more logical to suppose that the negative history in the group studied was not reliable in a great many cases. In the conditions under which the study was made, negative intradermal tests (IT)