Influence of Age on Serogroup Distribution of Endemic Meningococcal Disease

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 923-926
Author(s):  
Carol J. Baker ◽  
J. McLeod Griffiss

The age distribution of 126 infants and children with disseminated meningococcal disease hospitalized consecutively in Houston between January 1977 and June 1979, and between January 1981 and June 1981 was analyzed and compared with that in the United States as a whole and to that during outbreaks of group B disease in North America and epidemics of group C disease in South America. Eighty-one (64.3%) isolates from Houston cases were serogroup B and 37 (29.4%) were serogroup C Neisseria meningitidis. Children with serogroup C disease were significantly older than those with group B disease (P = .017). Of the children with serogroup B infections, 33% were less than 12 months of age and 8.6% were less than 3 months of age. Of those with serogroup C disease, only 2.7% were less than 3 months of age and the majority (73%) were more than 2 years of age. These age distributions are similar to those reported for the entire United States during endemic periods. In contrast, focal outbreaks of group B meningococcal infection occurred in populations that were significantly older (0.02 > P < .05). Similarly, epidemic disease in South America due to serogroup C strains also occurred in older children when compared with the occurrence of endemic group C disease in the United States (P = .02).

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee H. Harrison

SUMMARY Neisseria meningitidis is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in the United States and worldwide. A serogroup A/C/W-135/Y polysaccharide meningococcal vaccine has been licensed in the United States since 1981 but has not been used universally outside of the military. On 14 January 2005, a polysaccharide conjugate vaccine that covers meningococcal serogroups A, C, W-135, and Y was licensed in the United States for 11- to 55-year-olds and is now recommended for the routine immunization of adolescents and other high-risk groups. This review covers the changing epidemiology of meningococcal disease in the United States, issues related to vaccine prevention, and recommendations on the use of the new vaccine.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelika Banzhoff

Meningococcal disease is rare, easily misdiagnosed, and potentially deadly. Diagnosis in the early stages is difficult and the disease often progresses extremely rapidly. In North America, the incidence of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is highest in infants and young children, with a secondary peak in adolescents, a population predominantly responsible for the carriage of disease. Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B (MenB) accounts for a large proportion of meningococcal disease in North America, with documented outbreaks in three universities in the United States (US) during 2008–2013. Vaccination is the most effective way to protect against this aggressive disease that has a narrow timeframe for diagnosis and treatment. 4CMenB is a multi-component vaccine against MenB which contains four antigenic components. We describe in detail the immunogenicity and safety profile of 4CMenB based on results from four clinical trials; the use of 4CMenB to control MenB outbreaks involving vaccination at two US colleges during outbreaks in 2013–2014; and the use of 4CMenB in a Canadian mass vaccination campaign to control the spread of MenB disease. We discuss the reasons why adolescents should be vaccinated against MenB, by examining both the peak in disease incidence and carriage. We consider whether herd protection may be attained for MenB, by discussing published models and comparing with meningitis C (MenC) vaccines. In conclusion, MenB vaccines are now available in the US for people aged 10–25 years, representing an important opportunity to reduce the incidence of IMD in the country across the whole population, and more locally to combat MenB outbreaks.


1990 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Cruz ◽  
G. Pavez ◽  
E. Aguilar ◽  
L. Grawe ◽  
J. Cam ◽  
...  

SUMMARYFrom 1979 to August 1987, there have been 178 cases of meningococcal disease in Iquique, Chile, a city of about 140000. The attack rate for the last 5 years has been in excess of 20/100000 per year, more than 20 times greater than for the country overall. The mortality rate was 6%. The disease occurred in patients with ages from 4 months to 60 years, but 89% of cases were in patients <21 years. The largest number of cases were in the age group 5–9 years (n= 54), but the highest incidence occurred in children less than 1 year of age (72·8/100000 per year). The male/female ratio was 1·2. Cases occurred all year round with little seasonal variation. Of the 178 cases, 173 were biologically confirmed. Serogroup analysis of strains from 135 patients revealed A = 1, B = 124, C = 10. Forty-four group B strains from 1985–7 were serotyped: 15:P1.3 = 36, 15:NT = 4, 4:P1.3 = 2, NT:NT = 2. Ten of 11 of the outbreak strains tested were sulfadiazine-resistant. This is the first recognized outbreak caused by a Gp B:15 strain in South America. It shares many of the characteristics of outbreaks caused by closely related strains in Europe, such as a predilection for older children and adolescents, sulfadiazine-resistance, and sustained high attack rates. The Iquique strain (B:15:P1.3) belongs to the same genetic clone (ET-5 complex) as the Norway (B:15:P1.16) and the Cuban (B:4:P1.15) strains.


Zootaxa ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 3620 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHERINE A. PARYS ◽  
STEVEN C. HARRIS

Nothotrichia Flint 1967 is a small genus of infrequently collected microcaddisflies known from Chile and Brazil in South America, Costa Rica in Central America, and the United States in North America. Previously known only from adult specimens, we provide the first description and illustration of a larva in the genus, the larva of N. shasta from California, USA. We provide characters to separate Nothotrichia from other similar genera and an updated key to larval Hydroptilidae modified from that of Wiggins (1996). Larval characters provide additional evidence for the phylogeny and classification of the genus, which we now place tentatively in tribe Ochrotrichiini (subfamily Hydroptilinae).


1970 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 258-270
Author(s):  
Adam Kubasik

At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century a large group of Galician Ruthenians emigrated to North America and the United States and Canada, South America - mainly to Argentina and Brazil. Sheptytsky visited North America in 1910. He met with Ukrainian Greek Catholic immigrant communities in the United States and Canada. In 1921, he visited the USA and Canada again. In 1922 he arrived to Argentina and Brazil. He did not conduct open political agitation. However, some of his speeches have an anti-Polish character.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
July Duque-Valencia ◽  
Norma R. Forero-Muñoz ◽  
Francisco J. Díaz ◽  
Elisabete Martins ◽  
Paola Barato ◽  
...  

Abstract Canine distemper virus (CDV) is the cause of a multisystem disease in domestic dogs and wild animals, infecting more than 20 carnivore and non-carnivore families and even infecting human cell lines in in vitro conditions. Phylogenetic classification based on the hemagglutinin gene shows 17 lineages with a phylogeographic distribution pattern. In Medellín (Colombia), the lineage South America-3 is considered endemic. Phylogenetic studies conducted in Ecuador using fragment coding for the fusion protein signal peptide (Fsp) characterized a new strain belonging to a different lineage. For understanding the distribution of the South America-3 lineage in the north of the South American continent, we characterized CDV from three Colombian cities (Medellín, Bucaramanga, and Bogotá). Using phylogenetic analysis of the hemagglutinin gene and the Fsp region, we confirmed the circulation of CDV South America-3 in different areas of Colombia. We also described, for the first time to our knowledge, the circulation of a new lineage in Medellín that presents a group monophyletic with strains previously characterized in dogs in Ecuador and in wildlife and domestic dogs in the United States, for which we propose the name “South America/North America-4” due its intercontinental distribution. In conclusion, our results indicated that there are at least four different CDV lineages circulating in domestic dogs in South America: the Europe/South America-1 lineage circulating in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina; the South America-2 lineage restricted to Argentina; the South America-3 lineage, which has only been reported in Colombia; and lastly an intercontinental lineage present in Colombia, Ecuador, and the United States, referred to here as the “South America/North America-4” lineage.


The Geologist ◽  
1861 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
pp. 469-472
Author(s):  
Charles Carter Blake

One of the greatest and most significant laws which modern palæontology has unfolded to us, is that principle by which it is definitively ascertained that, as a general rule, the animals of the Post-Pliocene, and indeed all the later Tertiary ages, were restricted to the same great geographical provinces as their representatives in the existing fauna. Amongst the Pliocene Mammalia of South America, we find the same preponderance of the Edentata, the same family of prehensile-tailed Monkeys, and the same typical Llamas and Vicuñas, as we find in the present pampas of La Plata, forests of Brazil, or elevations of the Andes.But we also find animals which, from all our previous pre-conceived associations, we had considered peculiar to the old world. The Elephants, of which one species (E. Africanus) now exists in Africa, a second (E. Indicus) in India, and a third (E. Sumatranus) in Sumatra and Ceylon, apart from the extensive and widely-distributed evidences which we find of their fossil remains in Europe, India, China, and Australia, extended their geographical province in the later Tertiary age over the whole of North America. The species of elephant which we find in Siberia (E. primigenius) has also been found over the whole of the space lately marked on our maps as the United States. South of the 30th degree of N. Iatitude it however gives place to a totally different species of true Elephant (Elephas Texianus, Owen, E. Columbi? Falconer), the molars of which, by their less degree of complexity, were more adapted to triturate the soft succulent herbage of Texas and Mexico. Besides these true Elephants, there existed in North America many individuals of the genus Mastodon, to which the present communication more particularly alludes.


Plant Disease ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Scholler ◽  
Arthur Herbaria ◽  
Kriebel Herbaria ◽  
S. T. Koike

Common groundsel (Senecio vulgaris, Asteraceae) is native to Europe and is now a common weed mainly in disturbed habitats of almost worldwide distribution. In November 2000, groundsel plants growing adjacent to lettuce fields in California's coastal Salinas Valley (Monterey County) showed symptoms of rust. In a 0.2-ha survey area, 75% of the plants were infected. Examination of weeds growing in four residential blocks also uncovered infected groundsel. Densely clustered, orange aecia were observed on leaves and stems. Stems were swollen where aecia had formed. Blossom and fruit formation was not notably reduced, although some involucral bracts were infected. Aeciospores measured 14 to 18 μm × 12.5 to 15 μm (fresh material). Telia were not found. The pathogen was identified as Puccinia lagenophorae Cooke, a rust fungus that is native to Australia and New Zealand and infects plants of the subfamily Asteroideae (family Asteraceae) (3). P. lagenophorae is an autoecious species forming only repeating aecia (stage I) and telia (stage III). There are six other rusts of Senecio that occur in the United States (1) that readily form aecia but not telia on Senecio spp. When only aecia are observed on Senecio, which is typical for P. lagenophorae (2), the following features can be used to differentiate it from these other species: no pycnia (stage 0) are formed; aecia are formed repeatedly; systemic growth that results in deformation of the host, including formation of galls with dense clusters of aecia on the stem; poorly developed aecial peridium; and aeciospores small, measuring 12.5 to 18.5 μm × 10.0 to 16.0 μm (4). In addition, P. lagenophorae forms aecia even at the end of the year in northern temperate zones, whereas heteroecious species form aecia only in spring and early summer (2). This is the first record of P. lagenophorae in North America. Specimens were deposited in the Arthur Herbarium, Purdue University. Outside its native habitat, this fungus has been found in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and South America. There are about 60 known host species of P. lagenophorae (3) including ornamentals such as Bellis perennis, Calendula officinalis, and Senecio cruentus. The pathogen may have been introduced to North America via land from South America through Central America, or by the importation of ornamentals that were either infected with rust or infested with diseased groundsel. References: (1) D. F. Farr et al. 1989. Fungi on Plants and Plant Products in the United States. American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN. (2) M. Scholler. Regensb. Myk. Schr. 6:1, 1996. (3) M. Scholler. J. Plant Dis. Prot. 105:239, 1998. (4) I. Wilson et al. Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc. 48:501, 1965.


1964 ◽  
Vol 96 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 154-154
Author(s):  
M. V. Smith

For the past forty years there have been virtually no introductions of honeybee stock from foreign countries into Canada or the United States. This has been due to the stringent restrictions on importing honeybees which have been in force since 1922, as a safeguard against the introduction of acarine disease. The mite which is responsible for the disease, Acarapis woodi, is present in many parts of Europe, and has also been reported from Asia, Africa and South America. It has not so far been found in North America, although external mites of the same genus (A. dorsalis and A. externus) are now known to occur fairly commonly throughout Canada and the United States.


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