Issue
Number 303
March 25, 2002
CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE
- CDC publishes
progress report on reduction of Haemophilus
influenzae type b disease
- Get ready for
National Infant Immunization Week April 14-20!
- WHO website lists
country-by-country immunization schedules
- New VIS
translations: Thai and Ilokano Vaccine
Information Statements are now on IAC's website
- NIH hosts Consensus
Development Conference: Management of Hepatitis
C June 10-12 in Bethesda
- Immunization
Registry Conference will take place October
28-30 in Philadelphia
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March 25, 2002
CDC PUBLISHES PROGRESS REPORT ON REDUCTION OF HAEMOPHILUS
INFLUENZAE TYPE B DISEASE
On March 22, 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) published "Progress Toward
Elimination of Haemophilus influenzae Type b
Invasive Disease Among Infants and
Children--United States, 1998-2000" in the
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
The CDC synopsis of the report reads as follows:
********************************
Before effective vaccines became available in the U.S.,
Hib was the leading cause of bacterial
meningitis and other serious diseases among
children <5 years of age. Compared with incidence
from the pre-vaccine era, by 1996,
due to the widespread use of Hib conjugate vaccines, the
incidence of Hib invasive disease among
children <5 years of age declined by >99%. During
1998-2000, the national
incidence of Hib invasive disease among children <5 years
of age remained low. However, illness
and death associated with the Hib bacteria
occurred mostly among young infants who have not
completed the 2-dose (given at 2 and 4
months of age) or 3-dose (given at 2, 4, and 6
months of age) primary series of Hib
vaccination, and unvaccinated or under-vaccinated
older children. Cases that occurred in children
who had been old enough to complete the primary
Hib vaccination series might have
been preventable.
********************************
To obtain the complete text of the article online, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5111a4.htm
To obtain a camera-ready (PDF format) copy of this issue
of MMWR, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5111.pdf
HOW TO OBTAIN A FREE ELECTRONIC SUBSCRIPTION TO THE MMWR:
To obtain a free electronic subscription to the "Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report" (MMWR), visit
CDC's MMWR website at:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr Select
"Free MMWR Subscription" from the
menu at the left of the screen. Once you
have submitted the required information, weekly
issues of the MMWR and all new ACIP
statements (published as MMWR's "Recommendations
and Reports") will arrive
automatically by email.
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March 25, 2002
GET READY FOR NATIONAL INFANT IMMUNIZATION WEEK APRIL 14-20!
National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) is just three
weeks away! The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) has issued a notice to
encourage health care providers and consumer
groups to get involved. The CDC
website provides ideas and materials for NIIW events.
The entire NIIW notice reads as follows:
*******************************
Now in its ninth year, National Infant Immunization Week
(NIIW), April 14-20, 2002, is an annual
observance focusing attention on the benefits of
immunizations to the health of children. NIIW
provides an opportunity to
highlight the positive impact immunization makes on the
lives of infants and children and call
attention to national, state, and community
immunization achievements. Ultimately, our
nation's success in achieving high levels
of childhood immunization coverage is the result of the
work that individual health care
professionals, local and state health departments,
and other partners do throughout
the year. NIIW provides an opportunity to recognize these
contributions and to remind parents,
caregivers, health care providers and others of
the continuous need to follow childhood
immunization recommendations in order to protect
children against vaccine-preventable diseases and
give them a healthy start to life.
At the national level, CDC is producing a 30-second-long
Spanish-language public service
advertisement, Momentos Preciosos (Milestones),
which will be distributed to 120 Spanish-language
television stations in the top 50 Hispanic
media markets in conjunction with NIIW. CDC will
also be participating in NIIW events throughout
the country.
However, every individual and community, large and small,
can play a vital role in protecting children
from vaccine-preventable diseases. Some suggestions for you as a
parent, as a health care provider or as a
community leader could include:
COMMUNITY
Harness the power of the community by bringing together
local groups, organizations, businesses,
hospitals, churches, providers and political
leaders to plan local NIIW activities, including
health fairs, special events,
news conferences or other activities that will interest
the media and draw public attention.
Ask your governor or mayor to sign a proclamation for
NIIW.
Organize a door-to-door education campaign to raise
awareness about the importance of timely
immunization.
Ask local businesses for donations of money or in-kind
gifts. The funds can be used for brochures,
flyers, posters, billboards and other educational
materials. Certificates to fast food restaurants
or other local
businesses can be used as incentives.
HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS
Obtain or develop patient-education materials for your
patients.
Establish a simple, inexpensive immunization reminder
system.
Encourage hospitals and health maintenance organizations
to promote immunization in prenatal classes
and during prenatal visits.
Participate in in-service training seminars at medical,
health and social service agencies on record-keeping,
eliminating access barriers, and reminder-recall systems.
Encourage local hospitals to do a grand rounds program on
immunizations.
PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS
Work with local health departments, clinics and hospitals
to promote neighborhood clinics.
Write an article or op-ed piece for the local newspaper.
Encourage schools, churches, libraries, hospitals, and
other groups to print articles in newsletters, post
notices on bulletin boards and make special announcements.
*******************************
The CDC has posted 2002 NIIW Materials on its website.
These include materials and ideas for creating
an NIIW event, printable posters, and a
flyer.
For more information about NIIW and NIIW materials, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/niiw/default.htm
For the camera-ready (PDF format) NIIW flyer, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/niiw/02/02flyr.pdf
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March 25, 2002
WHO WEBSITE LISTS COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY IMMUNIZATION
SCHEDULES
The Department of Vaccines and Biologicals Vaccine
Assessment and Monitoring Team within the World
Health Organization (WHO) has created a "Country
Profiles" page on the WHO website. For
each country, information is given on
population characteristics, number of reported cases of
vaccine-preventable diseases, reported percent of target
population vaccinated against specific antigens,
immunization indicators, and immunization schedules.
Simply scroll down the list of countries, highlight
a country, and click on the "OK with the
selection" bar at the bottom of the window.
This is a convenient resource to remember next time you
are trying to assess the vaccination history
and status of a patient who was born in
another country.
To use the WHO Vaccine Preventable Diseases Monitoring
System 2001 Global Summary, go to:
http://www-nt.who.int/vaccines/globalsummary/Immunization/CountryProfileSelect.cfm
For more information, contact the WHO Vaccine Assessment
and Monitoring Team by email at
Epidata@who.int
or fax at (011) 41-22-791-4227.
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March 25, 2002
NEW VIS TRANSLATIONS: THAI AND ILOKANO VACCINE INFORMATION
STATEMENTS ARE NOW ON IAC'S WEBSITE
IAC now offers Vaccine Information Statements (VISs) in 27
different languages. We have just added all
13 VISs in the Thai language and 8 VISs in the
Ilokano language, which is spoken in the
Philippines, to our website.
IAC thanks the Asian Pacific Health Care Venture for
providing the Thai translations and the Hawaii
Department of Health for providing the
Ilokano translations.
Following are links to VISs in Thai by vaccine:
Anthrax: http://www.immunize.org/vis/th_ant00.pdf
Varicella: http://www.immunize.org/vis/th_var98.pdf
DTaP: http://www.immunize.org/vis/thdtap01.pdf
Hib: http://www.immunize.org/vis/th_hib98.pdf
Hepatitis A: http://www.immunize.org/vis/th_hpa98.pdf
Hepatitis B: http://www.immunize.org/vis/th_hpb01.pdf
Influenza: http://www.immunize.org/vis/th_flu00.pdf
MMR: http://www.immunize.org/vis/th_mmr98.pdf
Meningococcal: http://www.immunize.org/vis/th_men00.pdf
Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV7):
http://www.immunize.org/vis/thpnPCV7.pdf
Pneumococcal polysaccharide (PPV23):
http://www.immunize.org/vis/th_pne97.pdf
Polio: http://www.immunize.org/vis/th_pol00.pdf
Td: http://www.immunize.org/vis/th_td94.pdf
Following are links to VISs in Ilokano by vaccine:
Varicella:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/il_var98.pdf
DTaP:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/ildtap01.pdf
Hib:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/il_hib98.pdf
Hepatitis B:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/il_hpb01.pdf
Influenza: http://www.immunize.org/vis/il_flu01.pdf
MMR: http://www.immunize.org/vis/ilmmr98.pdf
Polio:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/il_pol00.pdf
Td:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/il_td94.pdf
To see IAC's entire list of VISs by language, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/index.htm#index
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March 25, 2002
NIH HOSTS CONSENSUS DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE: MANAGEMENT OF
HEPATITIS C JUNE 10-12 IN BETHESDA
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will convene a
Consensus Development Conference on
Management of Hepatitis C from Monday, June 10
through the morning of Wednesday, June 12 at the
Natcher Conference Center in Bethesda,
Maryland. The first such conference was held in
March 1997, three years after the identification
of hepatitis C viral infection.
During the first day and a half of the conference, experts
will present the latest hepatitis C research
findings to an independent panel. After
weighing the evidence, the panel will draft a
statement addressing questions such as:
What is the most appropriate approach to diagnose and
monitor patients? What is the most
effective therapy for hepatitis C? The panel
chairperson will read the draft statement on the
last day of the conference and invite comments and
questions.
For more information and to register online, go to:
http://consensus.nih.gov/news/upcoming/hepc/hepc_info.htm
You can also register by email to
hepc@prospectassoc.com with your
complete name, mailing address, and phone number
(also include the name of the conference in your message);
by phone at (301) 592-3320; or fax at (301)
593-9433.
To learn about other conferences and seminars related to
immunization and hepatitis B, visit IAC's
online Calendar of Events at:
http://www.immunize.org/calendar/
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March 25, 2002
IMMUNIZATION REGISTRY CONFERENCE WILL TAKE PLACE
OCTOBER 28-30 IN PHILADELPHIA
The 2002 Immunization Registry Conference will be held
Monday, October 28 through Wednesday,
October 30 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With the
theme "Grow, Connect, Protect," this conference
provides participants with an opportunity
to share knowledge and information about the
development and use of immunization registries.
Topic areas for abstracts include registry marketing, WIC
linkage, and sentinel site information. The
deadline for abstracts is May 30.
To register or submit an abstract online, go to:
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/registry/irc2002.htm
For more information, call the Conference Planning Team at
(404) 639-8539 or contact Gregory Lanman,
Program Analyst, by email at
ghl2@cdc.gov
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