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Abstract

Background

Healthcare workers (HCW) have been identified as index cases in disease outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD) in hospitals.

Aim

We investigated whether Danish paediatric HCW were protected against selected serious VPD.

Methods

We included 90% of staff members from two paediatric departments. All 555 HCW (496 women) supplied a blood sample for serology and filled in a questionnaire. Antibodies were measured with enzyme immunoassay against measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), varicella zoster, pertussis toxin and diphtheria toxin.

Results

Protective levels of IgG were found for measles (90.3%), mumps (86.5%), rubella (92.3%), varicella (98.6%) and diphtheria (80.5%). We found seropositivity for all three MMR components in 421 (75.9%) HCW, lowest in those younger than 36 years (63.3%). Only 28 (5%) HCW had measurable IgG to pertussis. HCW with self-reported immunity defined as previous infection or vaccination, had protective levels of IgG against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella in 87.4–98.8% of cases, not significantly higher than in those not reporting immunity. Previous history of disease had a high positive predictive value (PPV) of 96.8–98.8%. The PPV for previous vaccination ranged from 82.5% to 90.3%. In contrast, negative predictive values of self-reported history of disease and vaccination were remarkably low for all diseases.

Conclusion

The immunity gaps found primarily in young HCW indicate a need for a screening and vaccination strategy for this group. Considering the poor correlation between self-reported immunity and seropositivity, efforts should be made to check HCW’s immune status in order to identify those who would benefit from vaccination.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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2021-04-29
2024-11-07
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.17.2001167
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Immunity to vaccine-preventable diseases among paediatric healthcare workers in Denmark, 2019
<p class="citation"> <span>Citation style for this article:</span> <span class="meta-value authors"> <a href="/search?value1=Marie-Louise+von+Linstow&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">von Linstow Marie-Louise</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Alex+Yde+Nielsen&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Yde Nielsen Alex</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Nikolai+Kirkby&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Kirkby Nikolai</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Anna+Eltvedt&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Eltvedt Anna</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Thilde+Nordmann+Winther&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Nordmann Winther Thilde</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Allan+Bybeck+Nielsen&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Bybeck Nielsen Allan</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Didi+Bang&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Bang Didi</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Anja+Poulsen&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Poulsen Anja</a></span>. Immunity to vaccine-preventable diseases among paediatric healthcare workers in Denmark, 2019. <a href="/content/ecdc">Euro Surveill.</a> 2021;26(17):pii=2001167. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.17.2001167" title="doi link" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.17.2001167</a> <span class="ES_Article_citation"> <span class="generated">Received</span>: 10 Jun 2020;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="generated">Accepted</span>: 22 Oct 2020 </span> </p>
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