Interim Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Against Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza - California, October 2023-January 2024.

Surveillance data can provide rapid, within-season influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates to guide public health recommendations. Mandatory reporting of influenza vaccine administration to California's immunization information registry began January 1, 2023, and mandatory reporting of all influenza laboratory test results, including negative results, was instituted in California on June 15, 2023. These data, collected by the California Department of Public Health during October 1, 2023-January 31, 2024, were used to calculate interim influenza VE against laboratory-confirmed influenza by comparing the odds of vaccination among case-patients (persons who received a positive influenza laboratory test result) and control patients (those who received a negative influenza laboratory test result). VE was calculated as 1 - adjusted odds ratio using mixed-effects logistic regression, with age, race, and ethnicity as fixed effects and specimen collection week and county as random effects. Overall, during October 1, 2023-January 31, 2024, estimated VE was 45% among persons aged ≥6 months, 56% among children and adolescents aged 6 months-17 years, 48% among adults aged 18-49 years, 36% among those aged 50-64 years, and 30% among those aged ≥65 years. Consistent with some previous influenza seasons, influenza vaccination provided moderate protection against laboratory-confirmed influenza among infants, children, adolescents, and adults. All persons aged ≥6 months without a contraindication to vaccination should receive annual influenza vaccination to reduce influenza illness, severe influenza, and strain on health care resources. Influenza vaccination remains the best way to prevent influenza.

Receipt of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza vaccines in California (USA) during the 2021-2022 influenza season.

BACKGROUND: Despite lower circulation of influenza virus throughout 2020-2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic, seasonal influenza vaccination has remained a primary tool to reduce influenza-associated illness and death. The relationship between the decision to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and/or an influenza vaccine is not well understood. METHODS: We assessed predictors of receipt of 2021-2022 influenza vaccine in a secondary analysis of data from a case-control study enrolling individuals who received SARS-CoV-2 testing. We used mixed effects logistic regression to estimate factors associated with receipt of seasonal influenza vaccine. We also constructed multinomial adjusted marginal probability models of being vaccinated for COVID-19 only, seasonal influenza only, or both as compared with receipt of neither vaccination. RESULTS: Among 1261 eligible participants recruited between 22 October 2021-22 June 2022, 43% (545) were vaccinated with both seasonal influenza vaccine and >1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 34% (426) received >1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine only, 4% (49) received seasonal influenza vaccine only, and 19% (241) received neither vaccine. Receipt of >1 COVID-19 vaccine dose was associated with seasonal influenza vaccination (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 3.72; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.15-6.43); this association was stronger among participants receiving >1 COVID-19 booster dose (aOR = 16.50 [10.10-26.97]). Compared with participants testing negative for SARS- CoV-2 infection, participants testing positive had lower odds of receipt of 2021-2022 seasonal influenza vaccine (aOR = 0.64 [0.50-0.82]). CONCLUSIONS: Recipients of a COVID-19 vaccine were more likely to receive seasonal influenza vaccine during the 2021-2022 season. Factors associated with individuals' likelihood of receiving COVID-19 and seasonal influenza vaccines will be important to account for in future studies of vaccine effectiveness against both conditions. Participants who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in our sample were less likely to have received seasonal influenza vaccine, suggesting an opportunity to offer influenza vaccination before or after a COVID-19 diagnosis.

Influenza and SARS-CoV-2 Co-infections in California, USA, September 2020-April 2021.

During September 1, 2020-April 30, 2021, the California Department of Public Health, Richmond, California, USA, received 255 positive influenza molecular test results that matched with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 molecular test results; 58 (23%) persons were co-infected. Influenza activity was minimal in California, and co-infections were sporadic.

Importation and domestic transmission of Shigella sonnei resistant to ciprofloxacin - United States, May 2014-February 2015.

In December 2014, PulseNet, the national molecular subtyping network for foodborne disease, detected a multistate cluster of Shigella sonnei infections with an uncommon pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) pattern. CDC's National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) laboratory determined that isolates from this cluster were resistant to ciprofloxacin, the antimicrobial medication recommended to treat adults with shigellosis. To understand the scope of the outbreak and to try to identify its source, CDC and state and local health departments conducted epidemiologic and laboratory investigations. During May 2014-February 2015, PulseNet identified 157 cases in 32 states and Puerto Rico; approximately half were associated with international travel. Nine of the cases identified by PulseNet, and another 86 cases without PFGE data, were part of a related outbreak of ciprofloxacin-resistant shigellosis in San Francisco, California. Of 126 total isolates with antimicrobial susceptibility information, 109 (87%) were nonsusceptible to ciprofloxacin (108 were resistant, and one had intermediate susceptibility). Travelers need to be aware of the risks of acquiring multidrug-resistant pathogens, carefully wash their hands, and adhere to food and water precautions during international travel. Clinicians should request stool cultures and antimicrobial susceptibilities when they suspect shigellosis, and counsel shigellosis patients to follow meticulous hygiene regimens while ill.

From primary care to public health: using Problem-based Learning and the ecological model to teach public health to first year medical students.

We investigated whether a public health-oriented Problem-Based Learning case presented to first-year medical students conveyed 12 "Population Health Competencies for Medical Students," as recommended by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Regional Medicine-Public Health Education Centers. A public health-oriented Problem-Based Learning case guided by the ecological model paradigm was developed and implemented among two groups of 8 students at the University of California, Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, in the Fall of 2010. Using directed content analysis, student-generated written reports were coded for the presence of the 12 population health content areas. Students generated a total of 29 reports, of which 20 (69%) contained information relevant to at least one of the 12 population health competencies. Each of the 12 content areas was addressed by at least one report. As physicians-in-training prepare to confront the challenges of integrating prevention and population health with clinical practice, Problem-Based Learning is a promising tool to enhance medical students' engagement with public health.