Eurosurveillance - Volume 24, Issue 25, 20 June 2019

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at risk of HIV and are an important population to monitor and ameliorate combination prevention efforts.

To estimate HIV prevalence and identify factors associated with frequent HIV testing (≥ 2 HIV tests in the last year) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among MSM in London.

For this cross-sectional study, MSM recruited from 22 social venues provided oral-fluid samples for anonymous HIV antibody (Ab) testing and completed a questionnaire. Factors associated with frequent HIV testing and PrEP use were identified through logistic regression.

Of 767 men recruited, 545 provided an eligible oral specimen. Among these, 38 MSM (7.0%) were anti-HIV positive including five (13.2%; 5/38) who reported their status as negative. Condomless anal sex within the previous 3 months was reported by 60.1% (412/685) men. Frequent HIV testing was associated with, in the past year, a reported sexually transmitted infection (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 5.05; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.66–9.58) or ≥ 2 casual condomless partners (AOR 2–4 partners: 3.65 (95% CI: 1.87–7.10); AOR 5–10 partners: 3.34(95% CI: 1.32–8.49). Age ≥ 35 years was related to less frequent HIV testing (AOR 35–44 years: 0.34 (95% CI: 0.16–0.72); AOR ≥ 45 years: 0.29 (95% CI: 0.12–0.69). PrEP use in the past year was reported by 6.2% (46/744) of MSM and associated with ≥ 2 casual condomless sex partners (AOR: 2.86; 95% CI: 1.17–6.98) or chemsex (AOR: 2.31; 95% CI: 1.09–4.91).

This bio-behavioural study of MSM found high rates of behaviours associated with increased risk of HIV transmission. Combination prevention, including frequent HIV testing and use of PrEP, remains crucial in London.

Monitoring of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animals is essential for public health surveillance. To enhance interpretation of monitoring data, evaluation and optimisation of AMR trend analysis is needed.

To quantify and evaluate trends in AMR in commensal Escherichia coli, using data from the Dutch national AMR monitoring programme in livestock (1998–2016).

Faecal samples were collected at slaughter from broilers, pigs and veal calves. Minimum inhibitory concentration values were obtained by broth microdilution for E. coli for 15 antimicrobials of eight antimicrobial classes. A Poisson regression model was applied to resistant isolate counts, with explanatory variables representing time before and after 2009 (reference year); for veal calves, sampling changed from 2012 represented by an extra explanatory variable.

Resistant counts increased significantly from 1998-2009 in broilers and pigs, except for tetracyclines and sulfamethoxazole in broilers and chloramphenicol and aminoglycosides in pigs. Since 2009, resistant counts decreased for all antimicrobials in broilers and for all but the phenicols in pigs. In veal calves, for most antimicrobials no significant decrease in resistant counts could be determined for 2009–16, except for sulfamethoxazole and nalidixic acid. Within animal species, antimicrobial-specific trends were similar.

Using Dutch monitoring data from 1998-2016, this study quantified AMR trends in broilers and slaughter pigs and showed significant trend changes in the reference year 2009. We showed that monitoring in commensal E. coli is useful to quantify trends and detect trend changes in AMR. This model is applicable to similar data from other European countries.

Vaccination policy in France was previously characterised by the coexistence of eight recommended and three mandatory vaccinations for children younger than 2 years old. These 11 vaccines are now mandatory for all children born after 1 January 2018.

To study the French population’s opinion about this new policy and to assess factors associated with a positive opinion during this changing phase.

A cross-sectional survey about vaccination was conducted from 16 November–19 December 2017 among the GrippeNet.fr cohort. Data were weighted for age, sex and education according to the French population. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with a favourable opinion on mandatory vaccines’ extension and defined in the ‘3Cs’ model by the World Health Organization Strategic Advisory Group of Experts working group on vaccine hesitancy.

Of the 3,222 participants (response rate 50.5%) and after adjustment, 64.5% agreed with the extension of mandatory vaccines. It was considered a necessary step by 68.7% of the study population, while 33.8% considered it unsafe for children and 56.9% saw it as authoritarian. Factors associated with a positive opinion about the extension of mandatory vaccines were components of the confidence, complacency and convenience dimensions of the ‘3Cs’ model.

In our sample, two thirds of the French population was in favour of the extension of mandatory vaccines for children. Perception of vaccine safety and benefits were major predictors for positive and negative opinions about this new policy.