The Middle East and Eastern Europe rabies Expert Bureau (MEEREB) third meeting: Lyon-France (7-8 April, 2015).

MEEREB is an inter-regional network of countries from North Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia that work together with the aim of improving rabies control and prevention at local, regional and global level. MEEREB members met for the third time in 2015 in France (Lyon) to review the current rabies situation within the network and to discuss the way forward the prospect of a One Health approach against rabies. Dogs were the main vector of transmission in all MEEREB countries except for Croatia and Serbia where foxes represented the primary source. The number of rabies animal cases reported in 2014 varied substantially between countries with Ukraine reporting the highest number of animal cases. Human cases still occur in North Africa and all Middle East and Eurasian countries while no cases of human rabies were reported in Croatia, Serbia and Romania, although cases of rabies were identified in both dogs and foxes in 2014. Participants concluded that MEEREB can act as a think-tank where countries can share data, information, experiences and best practices to jointly address challenges in rabies control and prevention. They called for elimination of dog-transmitted rabies through vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin stockpiles and implementation of a One Health approach to achieve rabies's eradication.

Five-year follow-up of immune response after one or two doses of inactivated hepatitis A vaccine given at 1 year of age in the Mendoza Province of Argentina.

Our study was conducted to further investigate the single-dose approach of hepatitis A vaccination, while providing supportive data on the flexibility of booster administration. Participants received at least one dose of Avaxim 80U Pediatric at 11-23 months of age, and they will be followed for 10 years. We report here the fourth and fifth years after the first vaccination. Group assignment was based on whether the children received 1 dose and no booster during the study (Group 1) or 2 doses and no further booster (Group 2). Anti-HAV antibody concentrations were assessed at each annual visit. Of the 546 initial participants, 441 (80.8%) and 412 (75.5%) were followed up 4 and 5 years after vaccination, respectively. Of the 411 subjects evaluable at Year 5, 318 had received one vaccine dose and 85 had received two. Seroprotection rates were still high in Group 1 (99.7%) and in Group 2 (100%) 5 years after one or two doses of Avaxim 80U Pediatric, correspondingly. Anti-HAV geometric mean concentrations decreased in both groups compared to what they were 3 years after vaccination, while remaining well above the 10 mIU/mL threshold 5 years after vaccination. The highest concentrations were found in the children who received 2 vaccine doses. Hepatitis A humoral immunity induced by a single dose of inactivated hepatitis A vaccine can persist for at least 5 years in a paediatric population. The study results also support recommendations in favour of a flexible time window for booster vaccination.

Hepatitis A seroprevalence in children and adults in Kiev City, Ukraine.

Ukraine is a zone of moderate hepatitis A endemicity. The changing epidemiology of the disease because of improved hygiene has shifted the burden of Hepatitis A to older age groups where the disease is more severe. Outbreaks have also become more common as more of the population has become susceptible to hepatitis A virus (HAV). To help guide decisions regarding use of hepatitis A vaccine in Ukraine, we examined the presence of antibody to HAV (anti-HAV) in 1001 persons aged 1 to 85 years, visiting four municipal healthcare centres in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Overall, the anti-HAV prevalence was 31.9%. Anti-HAV seropositivity increased with age from 9.2% among children aged 1-5 years to 81.7% among persons over 50 years, but less than 50% of subjects less than 50 years were HAV seropositive. No children under 2 years were seropositive. HAV seropositivity was twice as high in children aged 5-11 years old in the low socio-economic status group (income less than 150 US$ per family member per month) than in the middle/high group (11.1% compared to 6.3%) but this disparity disappeared by adolescence. The prevalence of anti-HAV antibodies in adults was not different with respect to district of residence within the city. Considering the proportion of HAV seronegative subjects in all age groups under 50 years, routine vaccination against HAV of children aged 1-2 years old would appear to be an effective schedule for hepatitis A prophylaxis in Kiev.

Effectiveness of universal hepatitis A immunization of children in Minsk City, Belarus: four-year follow-up.

Hepatitis A is a reportable disease in Belarus. Universal hepatitis A vaccination of children aged 6 years in Minsk City began in 2003. This analysis was conducted to evaluate the short-term impact of the program. Hepatitis A incidence data from 1954 to 2006 was compiled. Vaccination effectiveness was estimated by comparing the incidence of reported hepatitis A cases after 4 years of immunization (2006) with the incidence when the vaccination program started (2003). The vaccines used were Avaxim 160 or Avaxim 80 (95%) and Havrix 720 (5%). From 2003 through 2006, hepatitis A incidence in vaccinated children under 14 years was 20-fold lower than the incidence in unvaccinated children (0.3 cases/10000 vs 5.98/10000; odds ratio = 0.05, 95% CI: 0.012-0.202), for a vaccination effectiveness of 95%. The decreased incidence of hepatitis A in all age groups in 2006 (by 12 times in preschool children aged 1-5 years, 13 times in children aged 10-14 years and 4-6 times among adults), including those without high coverage by vaccination, suggest a herd effect. Routine vaccination also resulted in a shift of the age pattern of hepatitis A morbidity. The proportion of cases in children under 14 years decreased from 33% to 41% in 2000-2002 to 7% in 2005-2006. We conclude that introduction of universal hepatitis A vaccination in Minsk resulted in sharply reduced incidence in both vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Hepatitis A virus circulation might decrease further by beginning vaccination at a younger age.

[Cross reactivity and amino acid structural homology of immunodominant peptide fragments of structural viruses from the human retroviruses HTLV-I, HTLV-II, HIV-1, and HIV-2]. / Perekrestnaia reaktivnost' i gomologiia aminokislotnoi struktury immunodominantnykh peptidnykh fragmentov strukturnykh belkov retrovirusov cheloveka HTLV-1, HTLV-II, HIV-1 i HIV-2.

Twelve synthetic peptides corresponding to 9 immunodominant regions of structural proteins of human retroviruses HTLV-I, HIV-1, and HIV-2 were studied in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for cross reactivity with heterotypical for each peptide anti-retroviral antibodies. The search of amino acid homologies was carried using the special computer program followed by the correspondence analysis of the discovered homologies and immunodominant fragments. It was found that peptides 100-130 p19 gag HTLV-I, 376-392 gp21 env HTLV-I, 381-400 gp21 env HTLV-I, 306-328 gp120 env HIV-1, 495-516 gp120 env HIV-1, 584-612 gp41 env HIV-1, and 581-603 gp36 env HIV-2 have type-specific reactivity and also cross react with 3-54% human sera containing antibodies against heterotypical retroviruses. On the other hand, peptides 120-130 p19 gag HTLV-I, 176-201 gp46 env HTLV-I, 291-312 gp46 env HTLV-I, 330-363 p24 gag HIV-1, and 602-624 gp41 env HIV-1 have shown no cross reactive properties; they may be effectively used for type-specific and differential serodiagnosis of human retroviral infections.

[Immunoreactivity of synthetic peptides, corresponding to B-cellular epitopes of human type I T-lymphotrophic virus structural proteins]. / Immunoreaktivnost' sinteticheskikh peptidov, sootvetstvuiushchikh B-kletochnym épitopam strukturnykh belkov T-limfotropnogo virusa cheloveka I tipa.

The immunoreactivity of 25 synthetic peptides corresponding to amino acid fragments of the HTLV-I structural proteins p19 gag, gp46 and gp21 env were studied in enzyme linked immunosorbent assay using a serum panel of 70 reference positive specimens with anti-HTLV-I antibodies. The location of the synthetic peptides containing the B-cell epitopes of HTLV-I was established. Anti-HTLV-I antibodies effectively recognized these peptides. The significance of some amino acids for forming the HTLV-I antigenic determinants was estimated. The synthetic peptides with amino acid sequences 100-130 p19 gag and 176-201 gp46 env were found to have most immunoreactivity (90-99% recognition by sera of HTLV-I infected patients) and mimic the immunodominant B-cell epitopes of HTLV-I structural proteins.

[A synthetic peptide-based immunoenzyme test system for the joint detection of human retrovirus (HTLV-1 and HIV-1) antibodies]. / Immunofermentnaia test-sistema dlia sochetannogo vyiavleniia antitel k retrovirusam cheloveka (HTLV-1 i HIV-1) na osnove sinteticheskikh peptidov.

The study was made to develop an immunodiagnostic test system based on synthetic peptides able to detect in the same assay the total concentration of heterospecific antibodies against human retroviruses HTLV-1 and HIV-1. Three panels of reference-sera contained antibodies to HTLV-1 (70 specimens), HIV-1 (50 and 16 specimens) and 4 synthetic peptides corresponding to protein fragments p19 gag and gp46 env HTLV-1, gp120 and gp41 env HIV-1. Immune reactivity of the peptides with reference sera was measured in the immunoassay. It is established that relevant peptides mimic immunodominant B-epitopes of structural proteins HTLV-1 and HIV-1 and are recognized specifically by relevant antiviral antibodies. The enzyme immunoassay test system has been designed using a peptide combination in a single antigen complex. The system showed high diagnostic sensitivity.