Trends in influenza vaccination behaviours--results from the CoPanFlu cohort, France, 2006 to 2011.

Controversies over the effectiveness and safety of the pandemic influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccine in 2009/10 may have altered the influenza vaccination coverage in France after the pandemic season. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the pandemic affected seasonal influenza vaccination behaviours in the general population by analysing vaccination behaviours from 2006/07 to 2011/12 among the 1,451 subjects of the Cohort for Pandemic Influenza (CoPanFlu) France.We found that vaccination behaviours in 2010/11 and 2011/12 significantly differed from behaviours before the pandemic, with the notable exception of the targeted risk groups for seasonal influenza-related complications. Among the population with no risk factors,the post-pandemic influenza vaccine coverage decreased, with people aged 15 to 24 years and 45to 64 years being most likely to abandon vaccination.Therefore, this study documents a moderate negative effect of the 2009/10 pandemic episode on vaccination behaviours in the French metropolitan population that was apparent also in the following two seasons.Moreover, it does not exclude that the general trend of reduced vaccination has also affected certain targeted groups at high risk for complications.

An interdisciplinary approach to controlling chikungunya outbreaks on French islands in the south-west Indian ocean.

The outbreak of chikungunya that occurred on French Island territories in the southwest Indian Ocean in 2005 and 2006 caused severe morbidity and mortality. In the aftermath, French authorities set up a scientific task force including experts in epidemiology, public health, entomology, virology, immunology, sociology, animal health, community and hospital medicine. The mission of the task force was to conceive and propose research programs needed to increase understanding of the disease and epidemic and to help public health officials in improving epidemic response measures. The purpose of this article is to describe the findings of the task force at the end of its two-year existence and initial outcomes in the the areas studied. Discussion emphasizes topics requiring further study.

Population response to the risk of vector-borne diseases: lessons learned from socio-behavioural research during large-scale outbreaks.

Vector-borne infectious diseases, such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and West Nile fevers are increasingly identified as major global human health threats in developing and developed countries. The success or failure of vector control rests mainly on the nature and scale of the behavioural response of exposed populations. Large-scale adoption of recommended protective behaviour represents a critical challenge that cannot be addressed without a better understanding of how individuals perceive and react to the risk of infection. Recently, French overseas territories faced large-scale outbreaks: an epidemic of chikungunya fever in La Re' union and Mayotte (2005-2006) and four successive outbreaks of dengue fever in one Caribbean island, Martinique (1995-2007). To assess how these populations perceived and responded to the risk, and how the nature and scale of protection affected their clinical status, socio-epidemiological surveys were conducted on each island during the outbreaks. These surveys address three crucial and interconnected questions relevant to the period after persons infected by the virus were identified: which factors shape the risk of acquiring disease? Which socio- demographic characteristics and living conditions induce a higher likelihood of infection? What is the impact of risk perception on protective behaviours adopted against mosquito bites? Grounded on the results of these surveys, a general framework is proposed to help draw out the knowledge needed to reveal the factors associated with higher probability of infection as an outbreak emerges. The lessons learnt can inform health authorities' efforts to improve risk communication programmes, both in terms of the target and content of messages, so as to explore new strategies for ensuring sustainable protective behaviour. The authors compare three epidemics of vector-borne diseases to elucidate psychosocial factors that determine how populations perceive and respond to the risk of infectious disease.

The rising impact of mathematical modelling in epidemiology: antibiotic resistance research as a case study.

Mathematical modelling of infectious diseases has gradually become part of public health decision-making in recent years. However, the developing status of modelling in epidemiology and its relationship with other relevant scientific approaches have never been assessed quantitatively. Herein, using antibiotic resistance as a case study, 60 published models were analysed. Their interactions with other scientific fields are reported and their citation impact evaluated, as well as temporal trends. The yearly number of antibiotic resistance modelling publications increased significantly between 1990 and 2006. This rise cannot be explained by the surge of interest in resistance phenomena alone. Moreover, modelling articles are, on average, among the most frequently cited third of articles from the journal in which they were published. The results of this analysis, which might be applicable to other emerging public health problems, demonstrate the growing interest in mathematical modelling approaches to evaluate antibiotic resistance.

[Comparison of three scales to assess health risk perception]. / Comparaison de trois échelles d'évaluation de la perception des risques sanitaires.

BACKGROUND: Health risks management consists of quantitative and qualitative assessment of risks including risk perception among different samples of the population. Little work has been done to develop and validate scales to measure risk perception. METHODS: We conducted, in December, 1999, a study among 1358 French GPs, members of the Sentinels network, in order to compare three scales: a visual analog scale, a verbal scale and a numerical scale. GPs were asked about their own perception of two risks: the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease new variant (vMCJ) and the bug. RESULTS: The response rate was 55%, with no difference between the three groups (p=0.85). No statistically significant difference was observed between the distributions of the visual analog scale and the numerical scale (p=0.11 for the question about the vMCJ and p=0.98 for the question about the bug). Conversely, distributions of the verbal scale were significantly different from those of the visual analog scale (p<0.0001 for both of the questions) and from those of the numerical scale (p<0.0001 for both of the questions). Separation between worried and non worried people didn't occur in the middle of the visual analog scale but at 33 millimeters from the left extremity for the question about the vMCJ and at 41 millimeters from the same extremity for the question about the bug. CONCLUSION: We recommend the use of verbal scales to measure instantaneous perception of a given risk. Visual analog scales and numerical scales are known to be the best scales to detect minimum changes in the perception of functional signs such as pain. On this purpose, their superiority with regard to verbal scales has to be confirmed in the field of risk perception.

The normalization of AIDS in Western European countries.

The occurrence of AIDS led in every Western European country to exceptional innovations in prevention, patient care, health policy and questions of civil rights. This exception can be explained above all by the fact that not only was a health catastrophe feared but also civilizational harm in the field of civil rights. Despite national differences, this brought about similar exceptionalist alliances consisting of health professionals, social movements and those affected. With the failure of a catastrophe to arise, signs of fatigue in the exceptionalist alliance and increasing possibilities of medical treatment, exceptionalism in Europe is drawing to a close. Four phases are distinguished between in this process, given nationally different patterns of development: Approx. 1981-1985: emergence of exceptionalism. The reasons underlying exceptionalism are investigated. Approx. 1986-1991: consolidation and performance of exceptionalism. The investigation centers on the exceptionalist policy model. Approx. 1991-1996: exceptionalism crumbling, steps toward normalization. The forces driving the process of normalization are investigated. Since 1996: normalization, normality. The forms and perspectives of the changes made in the management of HIV and AIDS are elucidated using examples from the fields of health care, primary prevention and drug policies. AIDS health-policy innovations, their risks and opportunities in the course of normalization are investigated. Three possible paths of development are identified: stabilization, generalization and retreat. The chances of utilizing innovations developed in connection with AIDS for the modernization of health policy in other fields of prevention and patient care vary from country to country with the degree to which AIDS exceptionalism has been institutionalized and the distance of these innovations from medical, therapeutic events.

[Society and hepatitis C--knowledge, perceptions, and public action]. / La société face à l'hépatite C--connaissances, représentations, action publique.

Despite its significantly higher prevalence, hepatitis C, now a serious public health problem, has long been overshadowed by HIV infection in France. The aim of this paper is to examine the factors that limit or prevent the conversion of scientific knowledge into public programs to tackle this transmissible viral infection. After an assessment of the knowledge currently available-quantitative data, routes of transmission, risk factors for hepatitis C and means of detection of HCV-we will analyse the interactions between the general public's representations and public decisions concerning detection, health care and prevention. Uncertainty concerning the sexual transmission of HCV makes a comparable mobilization to that observed in the case of the HIV infection improbable. It is necessary to target public measures at the different groups, both those at risk of contamination and those at risk of transmitting HCV, but it presupposes that answers can be found to the following questions: who can consider himself or herself at risk? What behaviours shape risk? Who is actively responsible for the risk when the HCV infection is transmitted? Better knowledge of the attitudes and perceptions of these specific groups and of risk-inducing situations will make public decisions more accurate in their contents and in their targets.