Risk factors for pneumonic and ulceroglandular tularaemia in Finland: a population-based case-control study.

Few population-based data are available on factors associated with pneumonic and ulceroglandular type B tularaemia. We conducted a case-control study during a large epidemic in 2000. Laboratory-confirmed case patients were identified through active surveillance and matched control subjects (age, sex, residency) from the national population information system. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. A conditional logistic regression model addressing missing data with Bayesian full-likelihood modelling included 227 case patients and 415 control subjects; reported mosquito bites [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 9·2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 4·4-22, population-attributable risk (PAR) 82%] and farming activities (aOR 4·3, 95% CI 2·5-7·2, PAR 32%) were independently associated with ulceroglandular tularaemia, whereas exposure to hay dust (aOR 6·6, 95% CI 1·9-25·4, PAR 48%) was associated with pneumonic tularaemia. Although the bulk of tularaemia type B disease burden is attributable to mosquito bites, risk factors for ulceroglandular and pneumonic forms of tularaemia are different, enabling targeting of prevention efforts accordingly.

Cluster of imported malaria from Gambia in Finland--travellers do not listen to given advice.

Twelve Finnish tourists contracted falciparum malaria from Gambia in the period between 3 and 27 November 2008. None of them had used adequate malaria chemoprophylaxis.

Neonatal Haemophilus influenzae infections.

Nine cases of neonatal Haemophilus influenzae septicaemia were recorded in Finland during 1985-9; incidence was 2.8/100,000 live births, and 1.6% of all cases of neonatal septicaemia. The onset of the disease was early in all cases, ranging from 0-6 hours after delivery. Seven of the infants were preterm and three died (overall mortality 33%). H influenzae was isolated from blood in seven of the cases, and in two neonates with clinical signs of septicaemia it was found on several surface sites and the placenta. One of the eight strains of H influenzae was capsular type b and biotype I, the rest being non-typable--a distribution similar to those previously reported. Four of the uncapsulated strains were of biotype III, and three were of biotype II. None of the strains of H influenzae was of biotype IV, which has been reported to be characteristic of neonatal and genital isolates of H influenzae. All nine mothers had some sign of infection at the time of or shortly after delivery. H influenzae was isolated from five mothers: from the blood (n = 1) or from the placenta or cervix (n = 4). The use of intrauterine devices may be a possible risk factor for neonatal H influenzae infections; two of the mothers had such devices in place during their pregnancies.

Epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal infections in children in Finland.

OBJECTIVE: To study the epidemiologic characteristics of invasive infections in children caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae to provide background data for vaccination programs. DESIGN: A nationwide laboratory-based prospective surveillance of all invasive pneumococcal infections in children during 1985 through 1989. SETTING: A network of all microbiologic laboratories and pediatric wards in Finland. PATIENTS: Children aged 0 to 15 years who were admitted to a hospital with S pneumoniae isolated from blood, cerebrospinal fluid, or deep aspirate sample. RESULTS: Four hundred fifty-two invasive pneumococcal infections were diagnosed in 1985 through 1989. The annual incidence rate was 8.9 per 100,000 children less than 16 years of age (24.2 per 100,000 among children less than 5 years of age and 45.3 per 100,000 among those less than 2 years of age). The most common clinical entities were bacteremia without focus (310 cases), pneumonia (66 cases), and meningitis (51 cases), with other focal infections seen in 25 cases. The pneumococcal groups/types 14, 6, 19, 7, 18, and 23 comprised 78% of all invasive infections. CONCLUSIONS: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a common cause of invasive infections in children in Finland. A pneumococcal conjugate vaccine containing the six most common groups/types could prevent up to 70% of invasive pneumococcal infections of children in Finland if fully protective in infancy.

Reduction of oropharyngeal carriage of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) in children immunized with an Hib conjugate vaccine.

The oropharyngeal carriage of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) was studied among 725 healthy 3-year-old children who had or had not been immunized with an Hib conjugate vaccine. Oropharyngeal swabs were collected during the childrens' well-child visit to their local child health center. Fourteen (3.5%) of the 398 unvaccinated children were oropharyngeal carriers of Hib, whereas none of the 327 children who had received Hib conjugate vaccine carried Hib (P less than .001). Carriage rates of non-type b H. influenzae (19%) or Streptococcus pneumoniae (18%) were the same irrespective of the Hib vaccination status of the children. Thus Hib conjugate vaccine, unlike Hib polysaccharide vaccine, seems to be able to prevent oropharyngeal colonization by Hib.

Spectrum of 2,836 cases of invasive bacterial or fungal infections in children: results of prospective nationwide five-year surveillance in Finland. Finnish Pediatric Invasive Infection Study Group.

In a prospective nationwide laboratory-based surveillance study of all invasive bacterial and fungal infections among children < 16 years of age, 2,836 clinical cases were registered during the 5-year period 1985-1989. Of these cases, 136 were polymicrobial. During the study period, nationwide administration of Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine reduced the incidence rates of invasive infection caused by this organism. The most common clinical diagnosis (48% of cases) was bacteremia without an identified focus of infection. The age-specific annual incidence rates of all invasive infections in children < or = 15 years of age, in children < or = 4 years of age, in children < or = 1 year of age, and in children < or = 28 days of age were 55.8, 141.4, 272.7, and 2,749.0 cases/100,000 person-years, respectively. Thirty percent of the children in the study had an underlying condition predisposing to infection. The case-fatality rate was 4.1% for all cases of invasive infection.

A randomized, prospective field trial of a conjugate vaccine in the protection of infants and young children against invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b disease.

BACKGROUND: Haemophilus influenzae type b is the leading cause of invasive bacterial disease in young children. The capsular polysaccharide vaccine does not protect children at greatest risk (those under the age of 18 months), but a polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccine has proved to be more immunogenic in this age group. METHODS: We enrolled 114,000 infants in Finland in an open, prospective, randomized trial of a H. influenzae type b capsular polysaccharide-diphtheria toxoid conjugate vaccine (polyribosylribitol phosphate-diphtheria toxoid [PRP-D]). Children born on odd-numbered days were vaccinated at the ages of 3, 4, 6, and 14 to 18 months; those born on even-numbered days formed the control group and received the same vaccine at the age of 24 months. RESULTS: After three doses of the vaccine there were 4 cases of verified bacteremic H. influenzae type b disease in the group receiving early vaccination, as compared with 64 cases in the control group, between the ages of approximately 7 and 24 months. The protective efficacy of the vaccine was thus 94 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 83 to 98). No serious adverse effects were reported. The immune response to the conjugate vaccine was characteristic of a T-cell-dependent response when studied in a cohort of 120 infants. The primary immunization series resulted in a geometric mean concentration of anticapsular antibody of 0.53 micrograms per milliliter at the age of seven months, and the fourth dose evoked an anamnestic response, with a mean antibody concentration of 45.22 micrograms per milliliter. CONCLUSIONS: A new conjugate vaccine consisting of the capsular polysaccharide of H. influenzae type b covalently linked to a protein carrier (PRP-D), administered to infants beginning at the age of 3 months, is highly effective in protecting young Finnish children (7 to 24 months old) against invasive H. influenzae type b infections.