Guillain-Barre syndrome during the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza vaccination campaign: population-based surveillance among 45 million Americans.

Because of widespread distribution of the influenza A (H1N1) 2009 monovalent vaccine (pH1N1 vaccine) and the prior association between Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and the 1976 H1N1 influenza vaccine, enhanced surveillance was implemented to estimate the magnitude of any increased GBS risk following administration of pH1N1 vaccine. The authors conducted active, population-based surveillance for incident cases of GBS among 45 million persons residing at 10 Emerging Infections Program sites during October 2009-May 2010; GBS was defined according to published criteria. The authors determined medical and vaccine history for GBS cases through medical record review and patient interviews. The authors used vaccine coverage data to estimate person-time exposed and unexposed to pH1N1 vaccine and calculated age- and sex-adjusted rate ratios comparing GBS incidence in these groups, as well as age- and sex-adjusted numbers of excess GBS cases. The authors received 411 reports of confirmed or probable GBS. The rate of GBS immediately following pH1N1 vaccination was 57% higher than in person-time unexposed to vaccine (adjusted rate ratio = 1.57, 95% confidence interval: 1.02, 2.21), corresponding to 0.74 excess GBS cases per million pH1N1 vaccine doses (95% confidence interval: 0.04, 1.56). This excess risk was much smaller than that observed during the 1976 vaccine campaign and was comparable to some previous seasonal influenza vaccine risk assessments.

Antimicrobial resistance for Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the United States, 1988 to 2003: the spread of fluoroquinolone resistance.

BACKGROUND: Over the past 60 years, Neisseria gonorrhoeae has acquired clinically significant resistance to sulfonamides, tetracyclines, penicillins, and ciprofloxacin. OBJECTIVE: To determine U.S. trends in the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance of N. gonorrhoeae from 1988 to 2003. DESIGN: 16-year, multisite, sentinel surveillance for gonococcal isolate susceptibility through the Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP). SETTING: Sexually transmitted disease clinics in 37 cities. PATIENTS: Male patients with a total of 82,064 episodes of urethral gonorrhea. MEASUREMENTS: Primary outcome measures included percentage of gonococcal isolates resistant to antimicrobials used to treat gonorrhea, percentage of patients treated with specific antimicrobials for gonorrhea, and trends of these measures over time. RESULTS: The median age of patients was 26 years, and 74.1% of patients were African American. The proportion of men treated with penicillins for gonorrhea declined from 39.5% in 1988 to 0% in 1994, while the proportion of those receiving fluoroquinolone treatment increased from 0% in 1988 to 42.0% in 2003. Penicillin resistance peaked at 19.6% in 1991, then declined to 6.5% in 2003. Tetracycline resistance peaked at 25.8% in 1997 and declined to 14.4% in 2003. The first fluoroquinolone-resistant isolate was found in 1991. Nationally, 0.4% of isolates were fluoroquinolone-resistant in 1999 and were identified in 39% of GISP cities. By 2003, 4.1% of isolates were fluoroquinolone-resistant and were identified in 70% of GISP cities. Isolates with decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone, cefixime, azithromycin, and spectinomycin remained rare. In 2001, 3 multidrug-resistant isolates with decreased susceptibility to cefixime were identified. LIMITATION: Sentinel surveillance may not fully reflect trends for all patients with gonorrhea in the United States. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of penicillin resistance has declined in the years since gonorrhea treatment with penicillin was discontinued. Fluoroquinolone-resistant N. gonorrhoeae infections continue to increase at a time when fluoroquinolone use has increased. Ongoing nationwide and local antimicrobial susceptibility monitoring is crucial to ensure appropriate treatment of gonorrhea.