Current Immune Status Research Articles

Hepatitis B immunisation and immune status of nurses in a regional hospital in central South Africa.

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the most important biological occupational hazards for healthcare workers. A high percentage of HBV infections are attributable to percutaneous occupational exposure. This study aimed to describe the HBV immunisation and current immune status of all the nurses employed in a regional hospital in central South Africa. A descriptive record review included all the nurses (N= 388) employed in a regional hospital in central South Africa from 01 January 2018 to 31 January 2020. A total of 289 health records were included in the study. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Logistic regression analysis was used to establish factors associated with full immunisation. Most nurses were females (87.9%), working in medical (27.0%) wards. Only 20.4% of nurses received one dose of vaccine, while 51.2% received the three prescribed doses. However, 91.2% of nurses did not receive the vaccine at the correct intervals. Most of the tested nurses (71.0%) were immune. Immunisation status was significantly associated with religion (p 0.001) and schedule (p= 0.003). Nurses who were non-Christians were 35.9% less likely to be fully vaccinated compared to Christians. Half of the nursing staff received three doses as prescribed. All nurses should receive the vaccine against HBV and their immune status monitored to minimise the risk of an infection. It is therefore recommended that proof of immunity should be a requirement.Contribution:This study found a high percentage of nurses with HBV antibodies, which will ensure workplace safety.

Assessment of Immunization Coverage and its Determinants Amongst Children in an Urban Area. Study Protocol of a Cross Sectional Study

Abstract* Introduction The country’s immunization rate is frequently below the international and national goals, and it is not distributed evenly. Children should be immunized for several reasons, chief among them being that it is the main defense against a variety of serious and frequently life-threatening illnesses. Every year, it prevents debilitating illness and disability and saves millions of lives throughout the world. The urban population in India is experiencing exponential growth. However, the public sector’s urban healthcare delivery system has encountered difficulties in keeping up with the rapid pace, exhibiting limitations in its reach and falling short of meeting the increasing demands. There is a need for government to pay attention at immunization rates and related variables in children (12–23 months) in the urban area. Objectives • To assess the overall immunization coverage rate for children in the urban area. • To assess the determinants associated with immunisation coverage in an urban area. • To explore healthcare access and infrastructure: Examine the availability and accessibility of healthcare facilities and vaccination services within the urban area. Method Information will be collected using semi- structured questionnaire in kobo collect tool. The parents of the child will be asked whether they have their immunization cards with complete immunization of their children. Study implications This study seeks to appraise the participant’s current immunization status with association to various determinants related to immunisation coverage. The study will also explore the availability of health infrastructure in association with immunization coverage. Furthermore, the gathered data may be utilized in further studies.

The power of “Likes”: the effects of “Liked By” and number of likes cues on perceived descriptive norms and behavioral intention to receive the flu vaccine

ABSTRACT Social media messages promoting vaccination are often presented with information showing (a) the number of Likes received (i.e., ‘number of Likes’ cue) and (b) whether such messages are liked by friends or followers of the recipients (i.e., ‘Liked by’ cue). This study examines if and how these cues influence vaccination intention by implementing an experiment with a 2 (‘Liked by’ cue: no vs. yes) × 2 (‘number of Likes’ cue: low vs. high) between-subjects factorial design with current flu immunization status as a measured moderator. Results from an experimental study (N = 182) showed that exposure to ‘Like’ cues including ‘Liked by’ cue and ‘number of Likes’ cue in a social media post led to favorable behavioral intention toward the flu vaccine through perceived descriptive social norms. The indirect effect of ‘Like’ cues on behavioral intention toward the flu vaccine through perceived normative perceptions was greater among participants without current immunization status while the direct effect of ‘Like’ cues on behavioral intention was not significant. Collectively, the results of this study offer important theoretical and practical implications for interactive health marketing communication endeavors on social media.

COVID-19 Vaccines Status, Acceptance and Hesitancy among Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study and the Implications for Pakistan and Beyond.

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy continues to be a widespread problem in Pakistan due to various conspiracy beliefs, myths and misconceptions. Since the hemodialysis population is at a higher risk of contracting infections, we sought to investigate the current COVID-19 immunization status and reasons for any vaccine hesitancy among these patients in Pakistan. This cross-sectional study was conducted among maintenance hemodialysis patients at six hospitals in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. Data were collected anonymously using a questionnaire. A total of 399 hemodialysis patients took part in the survey, the majority of them were male (56%) and aged 45-64 years. A calculated 62.4% of the patients reported receiving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Of those vaccinated (249), 73.5% had received two doses and 16.9% had received a booster dose. The most common reasons for vaccination were "being aware they were at high risk" (89.6%), "fear of getting infected" (89.2%) and "willingness to fight against COVID-19-pandemic" (83.9%). Of the 150 patients who had not yet been vaccinated, only 10 showed a willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The major reasons for refusal included "COVID-19 is not a real problem" (75%), the "corona vaccine is a conspiracy (72.1%)" and "I don't need the vaccine" (60.7%). Our study revealed that only 62% patients receiving hemodialysis were partially or completely vaccinated against COVID-19. Consequently, there is a need to initiate aggressive approaches to educate this high-risk population in order to address their concerns with vaccine safety and efficacy as well as correct current myths and misconceptions to improve the COVID-19 immunization status in this population.

Estimating immunity with mathematical models for SARS-CoV-2 after COVID-19 vaccination

Tools that can be used to estimate antibody waning following COVID-19 vaccinations can facilitate an understanding of the current immune status of the population. In this study, a two-compartment-based mathematical model is formulated to describe the dynamics of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody in healthy adults using serially measured waning antibody concentration data obtained in a prospective cohort study of 673 healthcare providers vaccinated with two doses of BNT162b2 vaccine. The datasets of 165 healthcare providers and 292 elderly patients with or without hemodialysis were used for external validation. Internal validation of the model demonstrated 97.0% accuracy, and external validation of the datasets of healthcare workers, hemodialysis patients, and nondialysis patients demonstrated 98.2%, 83.3%, and 83.8% accuracy, respectively. The internal and external validations demonstrated that this model also fits the data of various populations with or without underlying illnesses. Furthermore, using this model, we developed a smart device application that can rapidly calculate the timing of negative seroconversion.

Development of a rapid assay system for detecting antibody-dependent enhancement of dengue virus infection

Antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) is one of the pathogenic mechanisms related to disease severity in dengue virus infection. Conventional assays for detecting ADE activity usually require several days. In this study, we established a rapid assay system to evaluate ADE activity in dengue-seropositive samples using single round infectious particles (SRIPs). Human Fc-gamma receptor-bearing cells (K562 and Mylc cells) were infected with SRIP antigen in the presence of human serum samples to measure ADE activity. Two assay protocols were introduced: (i) rapid assay with 5 h of incubation, and (ii) semi-rapid assay with 24 h of incubation. The rapid assay requires a large quantity of SRIP antigen and gives results in half a day. Although the semi-rapid assay requires slightly more than a day, it can be performed using only a small amount of SRIP. Interestingly, the range of the number of Mylc cells required for the semi-rapid assay was wider than that of K562 cells. Significant correlations were observed between the rapid and semi-rapid assays for both cell types. Although it is difficult to judge which protocol best reflects the current immune status in vivo, both assays could rapidly provide valuable information regarding the risk assessment for severe diseases.

Immunization status of children 1-5 years old seen at the Emergency Pediatric Unit of a Teaching Hospital in North-Central Nigeria.

Advocacy for immunization has been ongoing in various parts of the world to improve immunization uptake amongst children. Annually within the last decade, immunization has been reported to avert over two million deaths globally. This study determined the current immunization status of children 1-5 years of age, the factors affecting immunization uptake and recommends ways of improving immunization uptake among children presenting at an Emergency Pediatric Unit (EPU). This was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted from 1st October to 30th November 2019. All eligible children aged 1-5 years old seen within the study period whose mothers/caregivers consented to participate in the study were recruited in the EPU of Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Plateau State, Nigeria. A systematic sampling technique was employed in the selection of caregiver/mother-child pair while data were obtained using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. A total of 191 (76.4%) children were fully immunized for age. Distance to the health facility, experience of vaccine side effects and health workers' attitude were significantly associated with immunization status. Distance to health facility was an independent predictor of complete immunization while short messaging service (SMS) was the most preferred 190 (76.0%) way suggested to improve immunization uptake. This study has brought to light a suboptimal level of full immunization status for age, which can be improved by targeting homegrown interventions at improving accessibility to the facility and addressing adverse events following immunization promptly.

A literature review on impact of COVID-19 and current immunization status: The Indian scenario

SARS-CoV-2 is a highly infectious and deadly coronavirus that first appeared in late 2019 and has since created a pandemic of the acute respiratory disease known as "coronavirus disease 2019" (COVID-19). This literature aims to summarise current knowledge of COVID-19’s clinical, epidemiological, structural, and pathological aspects, as well as the timeline of spread and recent progress in India’s immunization effort. A literature review was conducted through the database of Google Scholar and the official website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Government of India. All the latest studies regarding knowledge, prevention, and details related to COVID-19 were utilized. The outcome indicated that India is the world's second-most affecting coronavirus region. The adaptability of mutant virus and disobedience to CAB are the leading causes of the rising spread, therefore, having common symptoms of fever, sore throat, cough, and general weakness. This study reported that the number of COVID-19 cases has spread throughout the world, has caused an increase in morbidity and mortality in the population. The improvement of the immunization programme, on the other hand, has opposite impact on mortality rate.

Comprehensive Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Diverse Chinese Population.

The SARS-CoV-2 variants have been emerging and have made great challenges to current vaccine and pandemic control strategies. It is urgent to understand the current immune status of various Chinese populations given that the preexisting immunity has been established by national vaccination or exposure to past variants. Using sera from 85 individuals (including 21 convalescents of natural infection, 15 cases which suffered a breakthrough infection after being fully vaccinated, and 49 healthy vaccinees), we showed significantly enhanced neutralizing activities against SRAS-CoV-2 variants in convalescent sera, especially those who had been fully vaccinated. The neutralizing antibodies against Omicron were detectable in 75% of convalescents and 44.9% of healthy vaccinees (p = 0.006), with a GMT of 289.5, 180.9-463.3, and 42.6, 31.3-59, respectively. However, the neutralizing activities were weaker in young convalescents (aged < 18 y), with a detectable rate of 50% and a GMT of 46.4 against Omicron. We also examined and found no pan-sarbecovirus neutralizing activities in vaccinated SARS-CoV-1 survivors. A booster dose could further increase the breadth and magnitude of neutralization against WT and variants of concern (VOCs) to different degrees. In addition, we showed that COVID-19-inactivated vaccines can elicit Omicron-specific T-cell responses. The positive rates of ELISpot reactions were 26.7% (4/15) and 43.8% (7/16) in the full vaccination group and the booster vaccination group, respectively, although without statistically significant difference. The neutralizing antibody titers declined while T-cell responses remain consistent over 6 months. These findings will inform the optimization of public health vaccination and intervention strategies to protect diverse populations against SARS-CoV-2 variants. Advances. Breakthrough infection significantly boosted neutralizing activities against SARS-CoV-2 variants as compared to booster immunization with inactivated vaccine. Vaccine-induced virus-specific T-cell immunity, on the other hand, may compensate for the shortfall. Furthermore, the public health system should target the most vulnerable group due to a poorer protective serological response in both infected and vaccinated adolescents.

RAPID: A Rep-Seq Dataset Analysis Platform With an Integrated Antibody Database.

The antibody repertoire is a critical component of the adaptive immune system and is believed to reflect an individual’s immune history and current immune status. Delineating the antibody repertoire has advanced our understanding of humoral immunity, facilitated antibody discovery, and showed great potential for improving the diagnosis and treatment of disease. However, no tool to date has effectively integrated big Rep-seq data and prior knowledge of functional antibodies to elucidate the remarkably diverse antibody repertoire. We developed a Rep-seq dataset Analysis Platform with an Integrated antibody Database (RAPID; https://rapid.zzhlab.org/), a free and web-based tool that allows researchers to process and analyse Rep-seq datasets. RAPID consolidates 521 WHO-recognized therapeutic antibodies, 88,059 antigen- or disease-specific antibodies, and 306 million clones extracted from 2,449 human IGH Rep-seq datasets generated from individuals with 29 different health conditions. RAPID also integrates a standardized Rep-seq dataset analysis pipeline to enable users to upload and analyse their datasets. In the process, users can also select set of existing repertoires for comparison. RAPID automatically annotates clones based on integrated therapeutic and known antibodies, and users can easily query antibodies or repertoires based on sequence or optional keywords. With its powerful analysis functions and rich set of antibody and antibody repertoire information, RAPID will benefit researchers in adaptive immune studies.

Attention/Working Memory, Learning and Memory in Adult Cameroonians: Normative Data, Effects of HIV Infection and Viral Genotype.

There is lack of Cameroonian adult neuropsychological (NP) norms, limited knowledge concerning HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders in Sub-Saharan Africa, and evidence of differential inflammation and disease progression based on viral subtypes. In this study, we developed demographically corrected norms and assessed HIV and viral genotypes effects on attention/working memory (WM), learning, and memory. We administered two tests of attention/WM [Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT)-50, Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS)-III Spatial Span] and two tests of learning and memory [Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R), Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R)] to 347 HIV+ and 395 seronegative adult Cameroonians. We assessed the effects of viral factors on neurocognitive performance. Compared to controls, people living with HIV (PLWH) had significantly lower T-scores on PASAT-50 and attention/WM summary scores, on HVLT-R total learning and learning summary scores, on HVLT-R delayed recall, BVMT-R delayed recall and memory summary scores. More PLWH had impairment in attention/WM, learning, and memory. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) and current immune status had no effect on T-scores. Compared to untreated cases with detectable viremia, untreated cases with undetectable viremia had significantly lower (worse) T-scores on BVMT-R total learning, BVMT-R delayed recall, and memory composite scores. Compared to PLWH infected with other subtypes (41.83%), those infected with HIV-1 CRF02_AG (58.17%) had higher (better) attention/WM T-scores. PLWH in Cameroon have impaired attention/WM, learning, and memory and those infected with CRF02_AG viruses showed reduced deficits in attention/WM. The first adult normative standards for assessing attention/WM, learning, and memory described, with equations for computing demographically adjusted T-scores, will facilitate future studies of diseases affecting cognitive function in Cameroonians.

What is the current Immune Status of HBV Vaccinees in Health Care Workers and Medical Students in Alexandria University, Egypt?

What is the current Immune Status of HBV Vaccinees in Health Care Workers and Medical Students in Alexandria University, Egypt?

Duration of immunity in recipients of two doses of 17DD yellow fever vaccine

Antibody levels following yellow fever vaccination (YFV) decrease considerably with time, leaving a substantial proportion of single-dose recipients seronegative after 10 years. Little is known about the persistence of immunity after two or more doses of the vaccine. This study was designed to verify the current immune status of adults who had received two or more doses of YFV.A cross-sectional study assessed the immune status for yellow fever according to time since the latest YFV: second dose at 30–45 days (reference group), 1–5 years, 6–9 years and 10 years or more; and three or more doses. Volunteers had their vaccination cards checked and were interviewed before having a blood sample drawn for titration of neutralizing YF antibodies, and being tested for dengue IgG. The proportion seropositive (titer ≥ 1:50) and the geometric mean titers (GMT) were compared among the subgroups of time since the latest YFV.Participants (n = 323) were predominantly female (80.5%) and had a median age of 34 years (range 18–76). In the reference group (n = 99), 69% were seropositive before the second dose. After revaccination, the proportions seropositive (95% C.I.) were 100% (96–100%) in the reference subgroup, 90% (83–95%) in the 1–5 year subgroup (n = 109), 86% (77–92%) in the 6–9 year subgroup (n = 92) and 86% (57–98%) in the 10+ years subgroup (n = 14). Only 9 participants with more than 2 previous doses of YFV were eligible for the study, and 8 of them were seropositive. Sociodemographic variables, age at vaccination and previous dengue infection did not confound the association of seropositivity to time since the last YFV.The results support the need of booster doses of the YFV to maintain antibody levels consistent with protection, and indicate that a small proportion of individuals may need more than two doses, provided that priority is given to primovaccination of all susceptibles.

Assessment of Baseline Antibodies to Pandemic Influenza A/H1N1/2009 Virus in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria

Acute respiratory infection remains a global leading cause of death, with influenza accounting one of the most important causes of severe infections and deaths every year [1]. Globally, an estimated 1 million persons died from respiratory and cardiovascular conditions associated with influenza A/H1N1/2009 infections. Transmission patterns of influenza are attached with unique epidemiologic and demographic features such as environmental, economic, religious, cultural and social conditions [2]; weather conditions such as temperate and humidity; pre-existing immunity accounting for difference in the prevalence rates of specific antibodies [3]. Serum antibody to influenza can be used to identify past exposure and measure current immune status. Various laboratory methods applied to determining the host’s immune response include haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test, neutralization test (NT), microneutralization (MN) test, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) [4]. Although both HI and NT tests serve as measures of antibody concentration in sera, they have important differences in how they are conducted and how they measure immunity. Haemagglutination inhibition and NT assays, despite their widespread usage, the difference in reliability between laboratories is a direct result of how they are been measured [5]. These assays assess the level of functional immunity to a virus in a similar manner, both using serial dilution of sera applied to a fixed amount of virus to determine at which titer of sera the virus is effectively inhibited [6], however, the difference is in the biological mechanism used as an indicator for inhibition [7]. The HI assay utilizes the natural process of viral hemagglutination, a process in which a lattice forms by binding of viruses to red blood cells; this process is blocked when sufficient antibody with affinity to the virus is present [8]. The NT assay, in contrast, measures cytopathic effects of the virus, the invading and killing of cells, through plaque formation [9]. Again, the antibodies in the sample serum are tested for their ability to block this activity. Results are expressed as reciprocal of the highest dilution at which virus infection is blocked. A more precise assessment of the total number of infected persons would require the large-scale use of techniques to specifically determine the presence and relative concentration of A/H1N1/2009 influenza virus antibodies in serum samples. Besides its obvious epidemiological significance, the availability of these techniques would also allow the rapid discernment of potentially immune subjects among those more susceptible to infection in a given population [5]. However, as a result of the somewhat time, labour intensive, specialized training, less availability of specific reagents needed for these techniques, hence, the assessment of specific baseline antibodies to A/H1N1/2009 influenza virus with an ELISA-based method for sero-epidemiological study among randomly-selected apparently healthy individuals. The immunoassay used for this study shows significant advantages over conventional MN and HI assays; (i) it does not require fresh chicken erythrocytes; (ii) it does not require virus manipulation and therefore does not require special infrastructure; and (iii) interpretation of results rests on absorbance readings, instead of subjective visual estimation of agglutination.

P-A7 HIV disease history in perinatally HIV infected adolescents with interrupted care

Early initiation of HAART preserves the robust immune system of perinatally HIV infected children and limits viral reservoir size. Our aim was to study the current immune and virological status of perinatally infected adolescents who returned after defaulting care. A retrospective analysis was conducted on laboratory outcomes stratified by defaulters and non-defaulters and among age bands at HAART commencement. Among 78 patients, the median age was 14 years [IQR 13,17]. HAART was commenced at a median age of 6 years [IQR 3,8] with 45 (57%) at &gt;6 years. Among 27 defaulters the median time of default was 22 months. Total time on HAART was a mean of 8.5 years ± 3 years and 56 (71%) were on protease inhibitors. Zenith HIV RNA load was a median of 4.8 log10 copies/ml [IQR 4.2–5.2]. Nadir CD4 cell count was 368 [IQR 61,648]. Median current CD4 percent was 33.5% [IQR 18,46] Duration of CD4 of 15-25% was 12 months [IQR 4, 32] for defaulters compared with 4 months [IQR 0,8] for non-defaulters. The mean duration of viral load &lt;500 copies/mL was 1.48 ± 1.68 years among defaulters, 3.6± 3.2 years among non defaulters (p &lt; 0.0001); 3.9 ± 3 for those commencing HAART at age 1-5 years, and 2.4 ± 2.6 for &gt;6 years (p &lt; 0.05). Seventy percent of adolescents commencing HAART at 1-5 years versus 43% at age &gt;6 year had a current CD4 count &gt;500 (P &lt; 0.03). Virologic suppression was 67% in the 1–5 year band versus 27% in the &gt;6 year band (p &lt; 0.0001). Defaulters and non defaulters did not differ with current virologic or immunologic markers. Late age at starting HAART had a greater negative influence on final outcome than interrupted therapy. These results suggest the potential in HIV remission research of interrupting HAART after early initiation of treatment.

Attitudes of Swiss Health Care Providers Toward Childhood Immunizations.

INFOVAC is a network providing information about immunization issues to health professionals. The aim of this study was to assess the attitude of INFOVAC subscribers toward the current Swiss immunization schedule, potential modifications, and current and hypothetical immunization practices regarding their own children. In March 2015, a Web-based survey was sent to 4260 physicians and pharmacists subscribed to INFOVAC. Participation was anonymous and voluntary. The following information was obtained: (1) current immunization status of own children; (2) which immunizations would currently be accepted for a hypothetical own child and (3) attitudes toward potential modifications of the Swiss immunization schedule. Descriptive methods and multivariate models to correct for covariables were used for data analysis. Nine hundred and fifty-five valid questionnaires were received: 886/3704 (23.9%) from physicians and 69/556 (12.4%) from pharmacists. Current (>95%) and hypothetical (>99%) immunization rates were high for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis and measles-mumps-rubella. Most pediatricians (61%) would support more vaccines for their children than currently recommended by the Swiss immunization advisory committee, whereas about 50% of other physicians and pharmacists would decline at least one of the recommended immunizations, most frequently varicella, pneumococcal or meningococcal C conjugate vaccines. Strong general support was expressed for the expansion of human papillomavirus immunization to males, acceleration of the measles-mumps-rubella schedule and a 2 + 1 instead of 3 + 1 diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, acellular-inactivated poliomyelitis vaccine (DTPa-IPV)/Haemophilus influenzae type b ± hepatitis B virus (HBV) schedule. Survey participants generally demonstrated a positive attitude toward immunization, with pediatricians being the most progressive subgroup with the largest percentage of participants (63.1%) neither declining nor postponing any recommended immunization.

Current Immunization Status of Düsseldorf's Nursery School Children and Staff Members: A Cross-Sectional Study

The local health authority (Gesundheitsamt) in Düsseldorf, Germany aimed to investigate the current immunization status of nursery school children and pedagogues in Düsseldorf, Germany. Furthermore, analysing the association between Düsseldorf's 5 social environment clusters and immunization status was of interest. Especially due to recent changes in the German Infection Protection Act closely monitoring adverse immunization trends becomes increasingly important. Weighted cluster random sampling was used in order to draw a sample of 50 nursery schools from the 5 social environment clusters. Questionnaires were sent to the nursery schools and data were subsequently analysed using descriptive statistics. The results indicate that 76.0% of the children were immunized in time against MMR, 68.2% against varicella and 75.4% against meningococcal serogroup C. Data indicated a higher number of immunized children among older age groups. 96.4% of staff members born after 1970 were not vaccinated against varicella, 17.9% were not immunized against MMR and 82.1% were not vaccinated against meningococcal serogroup C. Immunization rates of children in nursery schools in Düsseldorf are far lower compared to local, federal and nationwide data of children's school entrance health examination. Especially in nursery schools that care for children younger than 12 months, herd immunity is crucial. Therefore, administering vaccines with a delay is considered to be precarious. Due to low response rates, inferential statistics could not be used and conclusions about the staff members' data are limited.

Current Immunization Status and Barriers to Immunization in the Elderly Population of the Second most Developed Region of Colombia, South America

Current Immunization Status and Barriers to Immunization in the Elderly Population of the Second most Developed Region of Colombia, South America

Knowledge of Vaccination History Does Not Predict Immune Status in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients

Introduction: Current quality measures and management guideline in IBD emphasize vaccinations for vaccine-preventable illnesses, but do not specify assessment of current immune status. Given the recent resurgence of measles virus infections and separately, a Bordetella pertussis outbreak, we previously assessed the immune status of our IBD population (ACG 2015). We found that 13% of patients lacked detectable immunity to measles and 60% were non-immune to pertussis. In this follow up study, we obtained vaccination history from our patients and correlated it to their immune status. Methods: Patients involved in our previous immune status study were contacted in order to obtain their vaccination history. A simple five-question survey was administered via telephone. Knowledge of childhood vaccination and subsequent boosters was collected and compared to previously gathered immune status against measles and pertussis. Immunity was previously defined as: measles antibodies ≤0.8 Antibody index (AI)=negative immunity, 0.8-1.1 AI=equivocal immunity and titers ≥1.2 AI=positive immunity. For pertussis immunity, anti-pertussis (PT) antibodies ≤ 5 IU/mL were considered negative immunity. Simple statistical comparison was performed. Results: We were able to contact 88 of the original 122 patients. 62(70%) and 60 (68%) patients reported childhood vaccinations to measles and pertussis, respectively. 20 (23%) in both groups did not know their childhood vaccination history. 53 (85%) of those who recalled receiving the childhood vaccination for measles were also found to be immune; 18 (30%) of those who recalled receiving pertussis vaccinations were immune. All 6 patients who reported not receiving childhood measles vaccination had positive titers (without reporting a history of being infected with measles); 5 of 8 patients (62%) who reported not receiving the pertussis vaccination were immune. Analysis of booster vaccination recall did not change these results. See Tables 1 and 2.Table 1: IBD Patient Recall of Measles Vaccination Compared to their Actual Immune Status to Measles.Table 2: IBD Patient Recall of Pertussis Vaccination Compared to their Actual Immune Status to Pertussis.Conclusion: In this study, we found that IBD patient recall of vaccination history does not predict immune status. Given these findings, in combination with the known waning of immunity as patients age, we recommend obtaining titers in order to confirm immune status, and then vaccinating accordingly. Providing patients with documentation of their vaccination history and immune status would further improve this process.

Immunotherapy of Sepsis: Blind Alley or Call for Personalized Assessment?

Sepsis is the most frequent cause of death in noncoronary intensive care units. In the past 10years, progress has been made in the early identification of septic patients and their treatment. These improvements in support and therapy mean that mortality is gradually decreasing, however, the rate of death from sepsis remains unacceptably high. Immunotherapy is not currently part of the routine treatment of sepsis. Despite experimental successes, the administration of agents to block the effect of sepsis mediators failed to show evidence for improved outcome in a multitude of clinical trials. The following survey summarizes the current knowledge and results of clinical trials on the immunotherapy of sepsis and describes the limitations of our knowledge of the pathogenesis of sepsis. Administration of immunomodulatory drugs should be linked to the current immune status assessed by both clinical and molecular patterns. Thus, a careful daily review of the patient's immune status needs to be introduced into routine clinical practice giving the opportunity for effective and tailored use of immunomodulatory therapy.