Journal Article > ReviewFull Text
E Clinical Medicine. 2023 May 1; Volume 59; 101965.; DOI:10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101965
Shoham S, Batista C, Ben Amor Y, Ergonul O, Hassanain M, et al.
E Clinical Medicine. 2023 May 1; Volume 59; 101965.; DOI:10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101965
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted immunocompromised patients. This diverse group is at increased risk for impaired vaccine responses, progression to severe disease, prolonged hospitalizations and deaths. At particular risk are people with deficiencies in lymphocyte number or function such as transplant recipients and those with hematologic malignancies. Such patients' immune responses to vaccination and infection are frequently impaired leaving them more vulnerable to prolonged high viral loads and severe complications of COVID-19. Those in turn, have implications for disease progression and persistence, development of immune escape variants and transmission of infection. Data to guide vaccination and treatment approaches in immunocompromised people are generally lacking and extrapolated from other populations. The large clinical trials leading to authorisation and approval of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and therapeutics included very few immunocompromised participants. While experience is accumulating, studies focused on the special circumstances of immunocompromised patients are needed to inform prevention and treatment approaches.
Journal Article > ReviewAbstract
Pathog Glob Health. 2014 January 1; Volume 108 (Issue 1); DOI:10.1179/2047773214Y.0000000126
Ali A, Jafri RZ, Messonnier N, Tevi-Benissan C, Durrheim DN, et al.
Pathog Glob Health. 2014 January 1; Volume 108 (Issue 1); DOI:10.1179/2047773214Y.0000000126
A number of countries now include meningococcal vaccines in their routine immunization programs. This review focuses on different approaches to including meningococcal vaccines in country programs across the world and their effect on the burden of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) as reflected by pre and post-vaccine incidence rates in the last 20 years. Mass campaigns using conjugated meningococcal vaccines have lead to control of serogroup C meningococcal disease in the UK, Canada, Australia, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, and Iceland. Serogroup B disease, predominant in New Zealand, has been dramatically decreased, partly due to the introduction of an outer membrane vesicle (OMV) vaccine. Polysaccharide vaccines were used in high risk people in Saudi Arabia and Syria and in routine immunization in China and Egypt. The highest incidence region of the meningitis belt initiated vaccination with the serogroup A conjugate vaccine in 2010 and catch-up vaccination is ongoing. Overall results of this vaccine introduction are encouraging especially in countries with a moderate to high level of endemic disease. Continued surveillance is required to monitor effectiveness in countries that recently implemented these programs.
Journal Article > CommentaryFull Text
E Clinical Medicine. 2021 June 1; Volume 36; 100911.; DOI:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100911
Batista C, Shoham S, Ergonul O, Hotez PJ, Bottazzi ME, et al.
E Clinical Medicine. 2021 June 1; Volume 36; 100911.; DOI:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100911
Journal Article > CommentaryFull Text
E Clinical Medicine. 2021 June 1; Volume 36; 100925.; DOI:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100925
Naniche D, Hotez PJ, Bottazzi ME, Ergonul O, Figueroa J, et al.
E Clinical Medicine. 2021 June 1; Volume 36; 100925.; DOI:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100925
Journal Article > CommentaryFull Text
E Clinical Medicine. 2021 August 3; Volume 39; DOI:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101053
Hotez PJ, Batista C, Amor YB, Ergonul O, Figueroa J, et al.
E Clinical Medicine. 2021 August 3; Volume 39; DOI:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101053
A Lancet Commission for COVID-19 task force is shaping recommendations to achieve vaccine and therapeutics access, justice, and equity. This includes ensuring safety and effectiveness harmonized through robust systems of global pharmacovigilance and surveillance. Global production requires expanding support for development, manufacture, testing, and distribution of vaccines and therapeutics to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Global intellectual property rules must not stand in the way of research, production, technology transfer, or equitable access to essential health tools, and in context of pandemics to achieve increased manufacturing without discouraging innovation. Global governance around product quality requires channelling widely distributed vaccines through WHO prequalification (PQ)/emergency use listing (EUL) mechanisms and greater use of national regulatory authorities. A World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution would facilitate improvements and consistency in quality control and assurances. Global health systems require implementing steps to strengthen national systems for controlling COVID-19 and for influenza vaccinations for adults including pregnant and lactating women. A collaborative research network should strive to establish open access databases for bioinformatic analyses, together with programs directed at human capacity utilization and strengthening. Combating anti-science recognizes the urgency for countermeasures to address a global-wide disinformation movement dominating the internet and infiltrating parliaments and local governments.
Journal Article > ReviewFull Text
Popul Health Metr. 2013 September 10; Volume 11 (Issue 1); DOI:10.1186/1478-7954-11-17
Jafri RZ, Ali A, Messonnier NE, Tevi-Benissan C, Durrheim DN, et al.
Popul Health Metr. 2013 September 10; Volume 11 (Issue 1); DOI:10.1186/1478-7954-11-17
Neisseria meningitidis is one of the leading causes of bacterial meningitis globally and can also cause sepsis, pneumonia, and other manifestations. In countries with high endemic rates, the disease burden places an immense strain on the public health system. The worldwide epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) varies markedly by region and over time. This review summarizes the burden of IMD in different countries and identifies the highest-incidence countries where routine preventive programs against Neisseria meningitidis would be most beneficial in providing protection. Available epidemiological data from the past 20 years in World Health Organization and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control collections and published articles are included in this review, as well as direct communications with leading experts in the field. Countries were grouped into high-, moderate-, and low-incidence countries. The majority of countries in the high-incidence group are found in the African meningitis belt; many moderate-incidence countries are found in the European and African regions, and Australia, while low-incidence countries include many from Europe and the Americas. Priority countries for vaccine intervention are high- and moderate-incidence countries where vaccine-preventable serogroups predominate. Epidemiological data on burden of IMD are needed in countries where this is not known, particularly in South- East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean regions, so evidence-based decisions about the use of meningococcal vaccines can be made.
Journal Article > CommentaryFull Text
E Clinical Medicine. 2022 January 1; Volume 43; 101230.; DOI:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101230
Batista C, Hotez PJ, Ben Amor Y, Kim JH, Kaslow D, et al.
E Clinical Medicine. 2022 January 1; Volume 43; 101230.; DOI:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101230
Journal Article > CommentaryFull Text
PLOS Med. 2021 September 13; Volume 18 (Issue 9); e1003772.; DOI:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003772
Figueroa J, Hotez PJ, Batista C, Ergonul O, Gilbert S, et al.
PLOS Med. 2021 September 13; Volume 18 (Issue 9); e1003772.; DOI:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003772