Chengbin Wang

Attribution of Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection to Primary Versus Non-Primary Maternal Infection

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a leading cause of developmental disabilities. In the United States during the period 1988-1994, approximately one-quarter of congenital CMV infections were attributable to primary maternal infection (n = 8772), and three-quarters were attributable to non-primary maternal infection (n = 29,918). Effective prevention strategies need to be developed for both primary and non-primary maternal infections.

Association of Physical Trauma With Risk of Herpes Zoster Among Medicare Beneficiaries in the United States

Risk factors for herpes zoster (HZ) are poorly defined. An age-matched, case-control study was conducted to assess the effect of physical trauma on HZ, using Medicare data. HZ cases were 3.4 times as likely as controls to have experienced trauma in the week before HZ onset, but the magnitude of the association between trauma and HZ declined over time. Cases who had cranial HZ were >25 times as likely as controls to have had cranial trauma in the week before HZ onset. Therefore, recent trauma can be a trigger for HZ.

Varicella Disease in Beijing in the Era of Voluntary Vaccination, 2007 to 2010

Background: In China, varicella vaccine has been available in the private sector to children ≥12 months of age since 1998 with a single-dose indication. In December 2006, varicella became a notifiable disease in Beijing. We used surveillance data to describe varicella vaccine uptake from 2005 to 2010 and varicella epidemiology in Beijing from 2007 to 2010. Methods: Limited sociodemographic and clinical information was available from the passive surveillance system. Varicella vaccine coverage was estimated for each year for children born between 2004 and 2008 using the number of children in the immunization registry of each birth year as the denominator without adjustment for history of varicella. Results: Vaccine coverage increased within each birth cohort between 2005 and 2010. The coverage at 2 years of age increased from 62.4% in 2005 to 74.1% in 2010 and was 80.4% in children 3–6 years of age in 2010. Between 2007 and 2010, 15,544 to 18,256 varicella cases were reported annually with stable overall incidence (range: 1.0–1.1/1000 persons), but the incidence in children 1–4 years of age decreased significantly from 6.2 per 1000 children in 2007 to 4.4 per 1000 children in 2010 (P < 0.001). Among adults (≥20 years of age), there were significant increases in the number and proportion of cases from 2557 (16.5%) in 2007 to 4277 (23.4%) in 2010 (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Moderately high 1-dose vaccine coverage in young children has been achieved with declining disease incidence, but varicella remains a common, seasonal disease in the population. Current epidemiology suggests that a government-funded varicella vaccine program that includes catch-up vaccination for older children, adolescents and adults needs consideration.

Varicella Vaccine Effectiveness in Preventing Community Transmission in the 2-Dose Era.

OBJECTIVES: We examined overall and incremental effectiveness of 2-dose varicella vaccination in preventing community transmission of varicella among children aged 4 to 18 years in 2 active surveillance sites. One-dose varicella vaccine effectiveness (VE) was examined in those aged 1 to 18 years. METHODS: From May 2009 through June 2011, varicella cases identified during active surveillance in Antelope Valley, CA and Philadelphia, PA were enrolled into a matched case–control study. Matched controls within 2 years of the patient’s age were selected from immunization registries. A standardized questionnaire was administered to participants’ parents, and varicella vaccination history was obtained from health care provider, immunization registry, or parent records. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate varicella VE against clinically diagnosed and laboratory-confirmed varicella. RESULTS: A total of 125 clinically diagnosed varicella cases and 408 matched controls were enrolled. Twenty-nine cases were laboratory confirmed. One-dose VE (1-dose versus unvaccinated) was 75.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 38.7%–90.3%) in preventing any clinically diagnosed varicella and 78.1% (95% CI, 12.7%–94.5%) against moderate or severe, clinically diagnosed disease (≥50 lesions). Among subjects aged ≥4 years, 2-dose VE (2-dose versus unvaccinated) was 93.6% (95% CI, 75.6%–98.3%) against any varicella and 97.9% (95% CI, 83.0%–99.7%) against moderate or severe varicella. Incremental effectiveness (2-dose versus 1-dose) was 87.5% against clinically diagnosed varicella and 97.3% against laboratory-confirmed varicella. CONCLUSIONS: Two-dose varicella vaccination offered better protection against varicella from community transmission among school-aged children compared with 1-dose vaccination.

Cytomegalovirus IgM Seroprevalence among Women of Reproductive Age in the United States

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) IgM indicates recent active CMV infection. CMV IgM seroprevalence is a useful marker for prevalence of transmission. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III 1988–1994, we present estimates of CMV IgM prevalence by race/ethnicity, provide a comparison of IgM seroprevalence among all women and among CMV IgG positive women, and explore factors possibly associated with IgM seroprevalence, including socioeconomic status and exposure to young children. There was no difference in IgM seroprevalence by race/ethnicity among all women (3.1%, 2.2%, and 1.6% for non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black and Mexican American, respectively; P = 0.11). CMV IgM seroprevalence decreased significantly with increasing age in non-Hispanic black women (P<0.001 for trend) and marginally among Mexican American women (P = 0.07), while no apparent trend with age was seen in non-Hispanic white women (P = 0.99). Among 4001 IgG+ women, 118 were IgM+, resulting in 4.9% IgM seroprevalence. In IgG+ women, IgM seroprevalence varied significantly by age (5.3%, 7.3%, and 3.7% for women of 12–19, 20–29, and 30–49 years; P = 0.04) and race/ethnicity (6.1%, 2.7%, and 2.0% for non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and Mexican American; P<0.001). The factors reported associated with IgG seroprevalence were not associated with IgM seroprevalence. The patterns of CMV IgM seroprevalence by age, race/ethnicity, and IgG serostatus may help understanding the epidemiology of congenital CMV infection as a consequence of vertical transmission and are useful for identifying target populations for intervention to reduce CMV transmission.

Varicella vaccine uptake in Shandong province, China

Varicella vaccine has been licensed in China for decade to be used as single dose in children aged ≥ 12 mo of age in private sector. Little data were available on varicella uptake to date in China yet. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Shandong Province in May 2011 to examine varicella vaccination coverage among children aged 16–40 mo and examine factors associated with varicella vaccine uptake. The overall coverage among children eligible for varicella vaccine was 62% (range 16.7–94.7% by county), much lower than the coverage of the eight vaccines included in the national immunization program (all above 97%). Though proximity to immunization services (< 5 km) was linked with higher vaccine uptake (62.6 vs. 37.4%, p = 0.02), county-level economic development (77.8, 61.0 and 47.1% for developed, sub-developed and developing regions, respectively, p < 0.001) played an even more important role in varicella vaccination. Moreover, there was little variation in coverage of vaccines included in the national immunization program along with county-level economic development. Even though varicella vaccine uptake is relatively high for use on a private basis, the vaccination coverage is not high enough to prevent epidemiology shift to adolescents and adults who are more prone to develop severe outcomes to varicella. Further enhancement on varicella vaccination coverage is necessary and inclusion to national immunization program seems to be a promising option for achieving and maintaining high coverage.

Viral Loads in Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection From a Highly Immune Population

Among newborns with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection from China, there was no difference in CMV viral load in saliva specimens dried and stored at room temperature compared with those kept wet and stored cold, even after longer storage time for the former than the later (74 vs 58 days, P = .02).