13. The application of reproduction number concepts to tuberculosis Vynnycky E, Fine PEM. Epidemiol Infect 1998; 121: 309–324

Epidemiology & Infection probably attracts more papers on mathematical modelling of infectious diseases than does any other epidemiology journal. The most important modelling papers published in the journal were probably those of Anderson and May during the 1980s, which laid the foundations for much of the subsequent modelling work carried out by themselves and their colleagues. Since the start of their partnership, they authored 17 articles between them in the journal, including work quantifying the effect of different vaccination strategies against measles and rubella [1, 2], on the epidemiology of rubella in the United Kingdom [3], and on the effect of age-dependent contact between individuals on the critical level of vaccination coverage required for control [4]. The latter work, published in 1985, was particularly important, since it described methods for incorporating realistic assumptions about (heterogeneous) mixing between individuals into models, an issue which was beginning to be addressed in the mathematical literature but which had not yet reached many epidemiological journals. Other important modelling work published in Epidemiology and Infection includes that of McLean et al. (reproduced in this edition) on the control of measles in developing countries [5, 6], and by Garnett and Grenfell on the epidemiology of varicella zoster in developed countries [7, 8].

11. The Stonehouse survey Cartwright KAV, Stuart JM, Jones DM, Noah ND. Epidemiol Infect 1987; 99: 591–601

The Stonehouse meningitis survey took place in 1986 [1]. The context was a substantial and highly focal outbreak of meningococcal disease affecting the population of southern Gloucestershire and particularly the town of Stroud and its adjacent communities – a population of some 90000 individuals in the west of England. Almost all cases of meningococcal disease were due to a serogroup B, type 15, subtype P1.7,16 sulphonamide-resistant strain that had not been documented in Gloucestershire (and only rarely in the United Kingdom) prior to 1982, the first year of the outbreak. As is often the case at the start of an outbreak of meningococcal disease in a temperate country, the attack rate rose particularly in older children. For the population of Stroud as a whole the meningococcal disease attack rate rose from approximately 1·0 cases per 105 to approximately 8 per 105 population.

Emergence of Macrolide-Resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae with a 23S rRNA Gene Mutation

ABSTRACT A total of 195 Mycoplasma pneumoniae strains were isolated from 2,462 clinical specimens collected between April 2002 and March 2004 from pediatric outpatients with respiratory tract infections. Susceptibilities to six macrolide antibiotics (ML), telithromycin, minocycline, levofloxacin, and sitafloxacin were determined by the microdilution method using PPLO broth. A total of 183 M. pneumoniae isolates were susceptible to all agents and had excellent MIC90s in the following order: 0.00195 μg/ml for azithromycin and telithromycin, 0.0078 μg/ml for clarithromycin, 0.0156 μg/ml for erythromycin, 0.0625 μg/ml for sitafloxacin, 0.5 μg/ml for minocycline, and 1 μg/ml for levofloxacin. Notably, 12 ML-resistant M. pneumoniae strains were isolated from patients with pneumonia (10 strains) or acute bronchitis (2 strains). These strains showed resistance to ML with MICs of ≥1 μg/ml, except to rokitamycin. Transition mutations of A2063G or A2064G, which correspond to A2058 and A2059 in Escherichia coli, in domain V on the 23S rRNA gene in 11 ML-resistant strains were identified. By pulsed-field gel electrophoresis typing, these strains were classified into groups I and Vb, as described previously (A. Cousin-Allery, A. Charron, B. D. Barbeyrac, G. Fremy, J. S. Jensen, H. Renaudin, and C. Bebear, Epidemiol. Infect. 124:103-111, 2000). These findings suggest that excessive usage of MLs acts as a trigger to select mutations on the corresponding 23S rRNA gene with the resultant occurrence of ML-resistant M. pneumoniae. Monitoring ML susceptibilities for M. pneumoniae is necessary in the future.

Erratum

Epidemiol. Infect. 133 (2005), 217–227N. WEIS, L. BERTHELSEN, H. WACHMANN, AND I. LINDThe meningococcal antibody test: how useful in the diagnosis of meningococcal disease?During the correction of this article an error was introduced into the Summary. In the first sentence, the number of blood samples received was incorrectly given as 92537. The correct number of samples is 9257. The error does not affect the results or conclusions presented elsewhere in the article.We apologize to the authors and readers for this error.

Erratum

During the late production stages, a spelling mistake was introduced into the title of a recent article in Epidemiology and Infection by P. E. Carter, K. Begbie and F. M. Thomson-Carter [Epidemiol. Infect. (2003), 130, 207–219 DOI: 10.1017/S0950268802008038]. The correct title should be: Coagulase gene variants associated with distinct populations ofStaphylococcus aureus.We apologise to the authors and readers for this error.

Erratum

Epidemiol. Infect. 128 (2002), 363–371An outbreak of gastroenteritis in Osaka, Japan due toEscherichia coliserogroup O166[ratio ]H15 that had a coding gene for enteroaggregativeE. coliheat-stable enterotoxin 1 (EAST1)Tables 1 and 2 were omitted

Erratum

Epidemiol. Infect.127 (2001), 555–60Escherichia coliO157: H7 infection of calves: infectious dose and direct contact transmissionPage 557, Figure 1(b). Replace with

Vaccination against hepatitis B in low endemic countries

A mathematical model that takes transmission by sexual contact and vertical transmission into account was employed to describe the transmission dynamics of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and vaccination against it. The model is an extension of a model by Williams et al. (Epidemiol Infect 1996; 116; 71–89) in that it takes immigration of hepatitis B carriers from countries with higher prevalence into account. Model parameters were estimated from data from The Netherlands where available. The main results were that, given the estimates for the parameters describing sexual behaviour in The Netherlands, the basic reproduction number R0 is smaller than 1 in the heterosexual population. As a consequence, the immigration of carriers into the population largely determines the prevalence of HBV carriage and therefore limits the possible success of universal vaccination. Taking into account the prevalence of hepatitis B carriage among immigrants and an age-dependent probability of becoming a carrier after infection, we estimate that a fraction of between 5 and 10% of carrier states could be prevented by universal vaccination.

Epidemiol. Infect.127 (2001), 221–7 An outbreak of diarrhoea due to multiple antimicrobial-resistant Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26: H11 in a nursery

Page 223, Table 1. ‘V2 GACTGCGTCAGTGAGGTT’Should read ‘V5 GACTCTTCCATCTGCCG’Page 226, Reference 1. ‘1997’ should read ‘1977’Page 227, Reference 17. Replace with ‘Kobayashi K. Detection of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli using PCR. J Clin Microbiol 1991; 18: 507–13.’

Erratum: The seroepidemiology of rubella in western Europe

Epidemiol. Infect.125 (2000) 347–357R. G. PEBODY, W. J. EDMUNDS, M. CONYN-VAN-SPAENDONCK, P. OLIN, G. BERBERS, I. REBIERE, H. LECOEUR, P. CROVARI, I. DAVIDKIN, G. GABUTTI, E. GERIKE, C. GIORDANO, L. HESKETH, A. M. PLESNER, M. RAUX, M. C. ROTA, S. SALMASO, A. TISCHER, M. VALLE AND E. MILLER