Abstract
BackgroundTyphoid fever mainly occurs in (sub) tropical regions where sanitary conditions remain poor. In other regions it occurs mainly among returning travelers or their direct contacts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the current Dutch guidelines for typhoid vaccination.MethodCrude annual attack rates (AR) per 100,000 Dutch travelers were calculated during the period 1997 to 2014 by dividing the number of typhoid fever cases by the estimated total number of travelers to a specific country or region. Regions of exposure and possible risk factors were evaluated.ResultsDuring the study period 607 cases of typhoid fever were reported. Most cases were imported from Asia (60%). Almost half of the cases were ethnically related to typhoid risk regions and 37% were cases visiting friends and relatives. The overall ARs for travelers to all regions declined significantly. Countries with the highest ARs were India (29 per 100,000), Indonesia (8 per 100,000), and Morocco (10 per 100,000). There was a significant decline in ARs among travelers to popular travel destinations such as Morocco, Turkey, and Indonesia. ARs among travelers to intermediate-risk areas according to the Dutch guidelines such as Latin America or Sub-Saharan Africa remained very low, despite the restricted vaccination policy for these areas compared to many other guidelines.ConclusionThe overall AR of typhoid fever among travelers returning to the Netherlands is very low and has declined in the past 20 years. The Dutch vaccination policy not to vaccinate short-term travelers to Latin-America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Thailand and Malaysia seems to be justified, because the ARs for these destinations remain very low. These results suggest that further restriction of the Dutch vaccination policy is justified.
Highlights
Typhoid fever mainly occurs in tropical regions where sanitary conditions remain poor
There was a significant decline in attack rates (AR) among travelers to popular travel destinations such as Morocco, Turkey, and Indonesia
ARs among travelers to intermediate-risk areas according to the Dutch guidelines such as Latin America or Sub-Saharan Africa remained very low, despite the restricted vaccination policy for these areas compared to many other guidelines
Summary
Typhoid fever mainly occurs in (sub) tropical regions where sanitary conditions remain poor. In other regions it occurs mainly among returning travelers or their direct contacts. Typhoid fever is caused by the bacteria Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Typhi Suryapranata et al BMC Infectious Diseases (2016) 16:731 to these countries, most likely caused by increasing hygienic standards since 1995 [10]. This suggests that disease burden in (sub) tropical countries is declining as well. The protection of these vaccines is around 30–50% and 60–70% respectively [11]
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