This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (32)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Immunization  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Philippe De Wals, MD, PhD; Geneviève Deceuninck, MD; Nicole Boulianne, MSc; Gaston De Serres, MD, PhD

JAMA. 2004;292:2491-2494.

Context  Meningococcal polysaccharide vaccines are of limited effectiveness. New protein-polysaccharide conjugate vaccines have yet to be evaluated in field conditions.

Objective  To assess the effectiveness of a serogroup C conjugate meningococcal vaccine in an outbreak setting.

Design, Setting, and Participants  Population-based observational study of cases of invasive serogroup C meningococcal disease from 1996 through 2002 in Quebec identified from the provincial registry of notifiable diseases and from the provincial reference laboratory. In 2001, a mass immunization campaign with a conjugate vaccine was conducted to control an emerging epidemic. The number of vaccinated individuals was extracted from meningococcal immunization registries.

Main Outcome Measures  Incidence of invasive meningococcal disease before and 1 year after the campaign in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

Results  Vaccination coverage of those 2 months to 20 years was 82.1%. After the campaign, the number of cases of serogroup C disease decreased from 58 in 2001 to 27 in 2002, and the incidence from 7.8 per million to 3.6 per million. Vaccine effectiveness was found to be 96.8% (95% confidence interval, 75.0%-99.9%). There was no observed increase in the incidence of the other serogroups.

Conclusion  The new conjugate vaccine was effective in controlling an emerging epidemic of serogroup C meningococcal disease, as well as providing short-term protection across a wide age range.

Author Affiliations: Quebec National Public Health Institute and Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Laval University (Drs De Wals and De Serres and Ms Boulianne), and the Public Health Research Unit, Quebec University Hospital Center (Drs De Wals, Deceuninck, and De Serres and Ms Boulianne), Quebec City, Quebec.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Seroprotection against serogroup C meningococcal disease
Conterno and Heath
BMJ 2008;336:1447-1448.
FULL TEXT  

Recent epidemiological changes in meningococcal disease may be due to the displacement of serogroup A by serogroup C in Hefei city, China
Ni et al.
Postgrad. Med. J. 2008;84:87-92.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Multivalent Conjugate Vaccine for Prevention of Meningococcal Disease in Infants
Harrison
JAMA 2008;299:217-219.
FULL TEXT  

Invasive Meningococcal Disease in Quebec, Canada, Due to an Emerging Clone of ST-269 Serogroup B Meningococci with Serotype Antigen 17 and Serosubtype Antigen P1.19 (B:17:P1.19).
Law et al.
J. Clin. Microbiol. 2006;44:2743-2749.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prospects for Vaccine Prevention of Meningococcal Infection
Harrison
Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 2006;19:142-164.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Neurologic Adverse Events Associated With Smallpox Vaccination in the United States, 2002-2004
Sejvar et al.
JAMA 2005;294:2744-2750.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Safety, Immunogenicity, and Immune Memory of a Novel Meningococcal (Groups A, C, Y, and W-135) Polysaccharide Diphtheria Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine (MCV-4) in Healthy Adolescents
Keyserling et al.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2005;159:907-913.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT