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Epidemiologische surveillance van kinkhoest. Bordetella pertussis- 2023
No full textHoofdpunten
Sinds midden 2023 is er, net zoals in verschillende Europese landen, in België een toename van het aantal kinkhoestgevallen in alle regio’s. We zien de toename in alle leeftijdsklassen maar voornamelijk in de leeftijdsgroepen tot 14 jaar (met de hoogste incidentie in de 0-jarigen, 4-5-jarigen en 13-jarigen).
Een groot deel van de ziekenhuisopnames gebeuren bij de allerjongste zuigelingen, die de belangrijkste risicogroep zijn voor een ernstig ziekteverloop na kinkhoestinfectie.
Het is belangrijk de uitvoering van de maternele kinkhoestvaccinatie tijdens iedere zwangerschap te optimaliseren en ook de basisvaccinaties verder tijdig uit te voeren, om de bescherming van deze allerjongste zuigelingen te verbeteren.
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Epidemiologische surveillance van invasieve infecties met Haemophilus influenzae - 2023
No full textKernboodschappen
· Invasieve Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)-infecties zijn sterk gedaald sinds de invoering van grootschalige Hib-vaccinatie in 1993. In 2023 werden 13 Hib-besmettingen vastgesteld, wat in absolute aantallen iets meer is dan in de afgelopen tien jaar (2-10 gevallen/jaar), maar het aandeel Hib-gevallen ten opzichte van het totaal aantal H. influenzae infecties is lager (6,3% van de gevallen in 2023) dan in 2020 en 2022 (respectievelijk 9,5% en 9,6% van de gevallen).
· In 2023 stelde het Nationaal Referentiecentrum (NRC) 205 gevallen van invasieve infecties met H. influenzae vast, wat overeenstemt met 1,7 gevallen/100.000 inwoners. Deze cijfers zijn de hoogste sinds het begin van de surveillance door het NRC in 2011, waarschijnlijk als gevolg van de covid-19 pandemie.H. influenzae treft vooral mensen jonger dan 5 jaar, meer in het bijzonder mensen jonger dan 1 jaar, en mensen van 65 jaar en ouder. In 2023 waren er 21,0 gevallen/100.000 mensen jonger dan 1 jaar, 3,5 gevallen/100.000 mensen van 1 tot 4 jaar en 4,2 gevallen/100.000 mensen van 65 jaar en ouder.
· De meeste invasieve H. influenzae-stammen die door het NRC werden verzameld, waren niet-typeerbaar. Deze vertegenwoordigden 82,4% van de stammen in 2023. Sinds 2018 is er een lichte toename van gevallen met serotype a.
· Er werden vijf sterfgevallen gemeld aan de NRC, die allemaal verband hielden met een niet-typeerbare stam.</p
Real-World Comparative Effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 Primary Vaccination Campaigns Against SARS-CoV-2 Infections: A Federated Observational Study Emulating a Target Trial in Three Nations
No full textBackground:
To assess the impact of large-scale SARS-CoV-2 vaccination campaigns in uncontrolled settings across regions, we performed a reproducible cross-border comparison of the real-world effectiveness of primary vaccination in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections across three sites: Aragon (Spain), Brussels and Wallonia (Belgium), and Finland.
Methods:
This observational study emulated a target trial by daily matching primary vaccinated individuals 1:1 to un- or partially vaccinated individuals based on a set of confounders from January to September 2021. Matched individuals were followed up until a SARS-CoV-2 infection was contracted or a censoring event occurred. Vaccine effectiveness in preventing infections was estimated by the difference in Restricted Mean Survival Time (RMST).
Findings:
Primary vaccination extended the mean time until contracting a SARS-CoV-2 infection on average by 35.9 (95% CI [34.9 — 37.0]), 59.6 (95% CI [59.3 — 60.0]), and 1.6 (95% CI [1.1 — 2.0]) days over 365 days in the population cohort of Aragon (Spain), Brussels and Wallonia (Belgium), and Finland, respectively.
Interpretation:
This federated population-based observational study showed the effectiveness of the SARS-CoV-2 primary vaccination campaign in prolonging the mean time to infection in the Aragon (Spain) and Brussels & Wallonia (Belgium) population cohorts. Only a minor difference over this time frame was found in Finland’s population cohort.
Funding:
This research was supported by funds from the BY-COVID Project. BY-COVID (BeYond COVID) is a Horizon Europe funded project from the European Union (grant agreement HORIZON-INFRA-2021- EMERGENCY-01 101046203), launched in October 2021.
Declaration of Interest: Not applicable.
Ethical Approval:
Ethical approval was granted for linking different individual-level data sources to comply with the data requirements specified in the study in the sites Aragon (Spain), Brussels and Wallonia (Belgium), and Finland. In Aragon (Spain), the Research Ethics Committee of Aragon (CEICA) granted approval for linking the required data sources (the COVID-19 public health surveillance and monitoring information system of COVID-19 cases, the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination population registry, the health system users databases, and data from electronic health records), via BIGAN (https://bigan.iacs.es/en/home), in its ruling of 22 February 2023 (reference number C.I. EPA 23/008). In Brussels and Wallonia (Belgium), activities of this study and thus linkage of the required data sources (the vaccine registry VACCINNET+, the COVID-19 test result database, the COBRHA database, the Intermutualistic Agency (IMA) database, the STATBEL database) are covered by the existing deliberation of the Information Security Committee Social Security and Health (ISC-SSH) of the LINK-VACC project. The LINKVACC project was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee UZ Brussels–VUB on 3 February 2021 (reference number 2020/523), and authorization was granted from the ISC Social Security and Health (reference number IVC/KSZG/21/034). Informed consent was waived based on Art. 6 and 9 of the GDPR. The collection is allowed based on general interest (art. 6 GDPR) and regarding article 9 § 2 of the GDPR: processing is necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health, such as protecting against serious cross-border threats to health or ensuring high standards of quality and safety of health care and of medicinal products or medical devices, on the basis of Union or Member State law which provides for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the rights and freedoms of the data subject, in particular, professional secrecy.</p
Bioaccumulation of organic and inorganic contaminants in biota: A long-term evaluation in the Belgian part of the North Sea
No full textDetermining the extent of pollution in the marine environment remains challenging. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and metals can, during dredging operations, be transported from a port or harbour into the open sea, where they may exert a harmful effect on the marine ecosystem. To fully understand the impact of these chemicals, monitoring programs should not only focus on sediment concentrations, but should also take into account the bioaccumulated concentration in the tissue of multiple target organisms.
In this study, the concentration of primary contaminants is determined in common starfish (Asterias rubens), flying crab (Liocarcinus holsatus), and brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) and the difference in the concentration of contamination between different dredge disposal sites at open sea is investigated. Different factors such as lipid weight, dry weight, grain size, and total organic carbon were measured and used to understand the difference between the observed bioaccumulation and the measured sediment concentrations.</p
Strain-level characterization of foodborne pathogens without culture enrichment for outbreak investigation using shotgun metagenomics facilitated with nanopore adaptive sampling
No full text
Policy brief Belgian EBCP Mirror Group: children, adolescents and young adults with cancer
No full textChildren and Adolescents and Young Adults with cancer represent a young population with specific needs, which need to be addressed in a patient- and cancer-driven way. There is an urgent need to support and extend the ongoing initiatives in Belgium. First, multidisciplinary care programmes dedicated to children need to be reviewed, and those for Adolescents and Young Adults need to be developed with close collaboration between paediatric and adult oncology and haematology teams. This needs to be done considering the entire patient journey; from cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, follow-up of late effects, transition pathways between paediatric and adult wards, and palliative care. Second, national haemato/oncology precision programmes adapted to this young population with rare cancers, including infrastructure to manage cancer gene predisposition in CAYAs with cancers and their relatives, needs to be developed. This multi-level plan aims to ensure improved outcome with high quality of care for the young population with cancer in Belgium in line with Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan initiatives.</p