Vaccination coverage of children with inflammatory bowel disease after an awareness campaign on the risk of infection.

BACKGROUND: Children with inflammatory bowel disease are at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases mostly due to immunosuppressive drugs. AIM: To evaluate coverage after an awareness campaign informing patients, their parents and general practitioner about the vaccination schedule. METHODS: Vaccination coverage was firstly evaluated and followed by an awareness campaign on the risk of infection via postal mail. The trial is a case-control study on the same patients before and after the awareness campaign. Overall, 92 children were included. A questionnaire was then completed during a routine appointment to collect data including age at diagnosis, age at data collection, treatment history, and vaccination status. RESULTS: Vaccination rates significantly increased for vaccines against diphtheria-tetanus-poliomyelitis (92% vs. 100%), Haemophilus influenzae (88% vs. 98%), hepatitis B (52% vs. 71%), pneumococcus (36% vs. 57%), and meningococcus C (17% vs. 41%) (p<0.05). Children who were older at diagnosis were 1.26 times more likely to be up-to-date with a minimum vaccination schedule (diphtheria-tetanus-poliomyelitis, pertussis, H. influenzae, measles-mumps-rubella, tuberculosis) (p=0.002). CONCLUSION: Informing inflammatory bowel disease patients, their parents and general practitioner about the vaccination schedule via postal mail is easy, inexpensive, reproducible, and increases vaccination coverage. This method reinforces information on the risk of infection during routine visits.

Immunization status in children with inflammatory bowel disease.

Inflammatory bowel diseases have an increased risk of infections due to immunosuppressive therapies. To report the immunization status according to previous recommendations and the reasons explaining a delay, a questionnaire was filled in by the pediatric gastroenterologist, concerning outpatients, in six tertiary centers and five local hospitals, in a study, from May to November 2011. One hundred and sixty-five questionnaires were collected, of which 106 Crohn's diseases, 41 ulcerative colitis, and 17 indeterminate colitis. Sex ratio was 87:78 M/F. Median age was 14.4 years old (4.2-20.0). One hundred and nine patients (66 %) were receiving or had received an immunosuppressive therapy (azathioprine, infliximab, methotrexate, or prednisone). Vaccines were up to date according to the vaccine schedule of French recommendations in 24 % of cases and according to the recommendations for inflammatory bowel disease in 4 % of cases. Coverage by vaccine was the following: diphtheria-tetanus-poliomyelitis 87 %, hepatitis B 38 %, pneumococcus 32 %, and influenza 22 %. Immunization delay causes were as follows: absence of proposal 58 %, patient refusal 41 %, fear of side effects 33 %, and fear of disease activation 5 %. Therefore, immunization coverage is insufficient in children with inflammatory bowel disease, due to simple omission or to refusal. A collaboration with the attending physicians and a targeted information are necessary.

Impact of rotavirus vaccination on hospitalizations for rotavirus diarrhea: the IVANHOE study.

The aim of the IVANHOE study was to determine the real-world impact of the rotavirus vaccine, controlling for epidemic-to-epidemic variation in disease burden. A population-based prospective cohort study was conducted in Brest City and 7 suburban districts (CUB area), North-western Brittany, France (210,000 inhabitants; 5500 births per year). The vaccination program started in May 2007 for a 2-year period for all infants born in the Brest birth zone through pediatricians, public outpatient clinics and general practitioners. To determine vaccine impact we monitored trends in hospitalizations for rotavirus-specific diarrhea using an active hospital-based surveillance system initiated 5 years before vaccine introduction. The number of hospitalizations for rotavirus-specific diarrhea during the 2008/2009 epidemic in infants less than 2 years of age whose parents lived within the CUB area was modelled as a function of (1) the number of hospitalizations in infants 2-5 years of age to control for epidemic-to-epidemic variation and (2) vaccine introduction. A total of 4684 infants received at least one dose. Of these, 2635 lived within the CUB area. Vaccine coverage for a complete schedule in the CUB area was 47.1%. Poisson modelling revealed a reduction by a factor of 2.04 (1.56-2.66) in the number of hospitalizations during the last epidemic season (2008/2009), the number of observed cases being equal to 30, against an expected number of 61. Relative risk reduction for hospitalizations for rotavirus diarrhea was 98% (95% CI: 83-100%). We observed a noticeable impact of vaccination on rotavirus diarrhea hospitalizations within 2 years of vaccine introduction integrating for the first time rotavirus epidemics variation. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number, NCT00740935.

Evaluation of intestinal absorption after longitudinal intestinal lengthening for short bowel syndrome.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to answer if the longitudinal intestinal lengthening and tailoring (LILT) by Bianchi, modified by Aigrain, can allow the child to be weaned from parenteral nutrition (PN) and if the length of the bowel after the procedure can influence the results of the absorption test such as Schilling or D-xylose test. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reviewed the files of 7 children who have had LILT from 1980 to 2003. We performed to explore 2 intestinal function tests: the D-xylose and the Schilling tests. Both were performed early (during the first year after the procedure) and late (during the second year) after the LILT. We used the chi2 and Bartlett's correlation tests for statistical analysis. RESULTS: There were 6 boys and 1 girl. The surgical indication was short bowel syndrome with parenteral nutrition owing to multiple intestinal atresia (2 cases), severe necrotizing enterocolitis with volvulus (1 case), necrotizing enterocolitis (1 case), intestinal atresia with gastroschisis (2 cases), and volvulus owing to malrotation (1 case). The length of the bowel was significantly different before and after LILT (P < .0001). After LILT, the length of the bowel was significantly correlated with the percentage of PN on energy at 6 months (P = .02) and at 12 months (P = .001). Moreover, the length of the bowel after the procedure was significantly correlated with the results of the D-xylose test during the first year (P = .002) but not with the results after the second year. The length after lengthening influenced neither the results of the Schilling test during the first nor those of the second year after. Four patients were weaned from the PN 21 months in average after the LILT (57%); 1 was not because we had only a 2-month follow-up. The average follow-up was 111 (5 months; range, 4-206). CONCLUSION: Longitudinal intestinal lengthening and tailoring for short bowel syndrome is a good option to allow children to be weaned from the PN. The length of the bowel after the procedure can influence the absorption test such as D-xylose during the first postoperative year but not during the second and does not influence the Schilling test. We think it is not necessary to perform these tests during the follow-up of these patients.

Further delineation of the congenital form of X-linked dyskeratosis congenita (Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome).

Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome represents a severe variant of dyskeratosis congenita (Zinsser-Cole-Engman syndrome). This X-linked recessive, progressive, multisystemic disorder reported so far in 12 pedigrees is characterised by intrauterine growth retardation, microcephaly, cerebellar hypoplasia, mental retardation, progressive combined immune deficiency and aplastic anaemia. Mutations in the DKC1gene on Xq28 have been identified in the X-linked form of dyskeratosis congenita and in some Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome patients. We report on two sibs and two other unrelated patients with the striking clinical features of Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome. Noticeably, all four had early digestive problems, with chronic, bloody diarrhoea and feeding problems causing one of the most difficult problems in the supportive treatment of this uniformly lethal condition. Pathological changes in the proliferative compartment of the digestive mucosa included alterations of the glandular architecture and focal rarefaction of the glands. This aspect seems consistent with altered telomerase function associated with a dyskerin mutation which may decrease the proliferative capacity of digestive epithelial cells. A missense mutation 146 C-->T (Thr49Met) in the DKC1gene was found in two unrelated patients, whereas mutation screening was negative for one single case. The absence of mutations of the DKC1gene in patients with Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome emphasises the probable implication of one or more other loci.