Vaccine
Volume 36, Issue 12, 2018, Pages 1664-1672

Immunity against measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, hepatitis A and hepatitis B among adult asylum seekers in the Netherlands, 2016 (Article) (Open Access)

Freidl G.S. , Tostmann A. , Curvers M. , Ruijs W.L.M. , Smits G. , Schepp R. , Duizer E. , Boland G. , de Melker H. , van der Klis F.R.M. , Hautvast J.L.A. , Veldhuijzen I.K.*
  • a Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, Bilthoven, MA 3721, Netherlands, European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Tomtebodavägen 11A, Solna, 171 65, Sweden
  • b Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Medical Centre, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, Nijmegen, GA 6525, Netherlands
  • c Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, Bilthoven, MA 3721, Netherlands
  • d Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, Bilthoven, MA 3721, Netherlands
  • e Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, Bilthoven, MA 3721, Netherlands
  • f Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, Bilthoven, MA 3721, Netherlands
  • g Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, Bilthoven, MA 3721, Netherlands
  • h Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, Utrecht, CX 3584, Netherlands
  • i Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, Bilthoven, MA 3721, Netherlands
  • j Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, Bilthoven, MA 3721, Netherlands
  • k Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Medical Centre, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, Nijmegen, GA 6525, Netherlands
  • l Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, Bilthoven, MA 3721, Netherlands

Abstract

Asylum seekers are a vulnerable population for contracting infectious diseases. Outbreaks occur among children and adults. In the Netherlands, asylum seeker children are offered vaccination according to the National Immunization Program. Little is known about protection against vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD) in adult asylum seekers. In this 2016 study, we assessed the immunity of adult asylum seekers against nine VPD to identify groups that might benefit from additional vaccinations. We invited asylum seekers from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Ethiopia to participate in a serosurvey. Participants provided informed consent and a blood sample, and completed a questionnaire. We measured prevalence of protective antibodies to measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, diphtheria, tetanus, polio type 1–3 and hepatitis A and B, stratified them by country of origin and age groups. The median age of the 622 participants was 28 years (interquartile range: 23–35), 81% were male and 48% originated from Syria. Overall, seroprotection was 88% for measles (range between countries: 83–93%), 91% for mumps (81–95%), 94% for rubella (84–98%), 96% for varicella (92–98%), 82% for diphtheria (65–88%), 98% for tetanus (86–100%), 91% (88–94%) for polio type 1, 95% (90–98%) for polio type 2, 82% (76–86%) for polio type 3, 84% (54–100%) for hepatitis A and 27% for hepatitis B (anti-HBs; 8–42%). Our results indicate insufficient protection against certain VPD in some subgroups. For all countries except Eritrea, measles seroprotection was below the 95% threshold required for elimination. Measles seroprevalence was lowest among adults younger than 25 years. In comparison, seroprevalence in the Dutch general population was 96% in 2006/07. The results of this study can help prioritizing vaccination of susceptible subgroups of adult asylum seekers, in general and in outbreak situations. © 2018 The Authors

Author Keywords

Vaccine-preventable diseases Serosurvey Seroprevalence Asylum seekers Refugees Immunity

Index Keywords

blood sampling Netherlands Vaccines Afghanistan Eritrea health survey Syrian Arab Republic human Communicable Diseases hepatitis A middle aged chickenpox Iraq priority journal immunity Iran Cross-Sectional Studies neutralizing antibody asylum seeker Young Adult Humans cross-sectional study measles antibody Adolescent male varicella antibody female poliomyelitis vaccine unclassified drug tetanus toxoid virus antibody communicable disease control tetanus antibody questionnaire rubella vaccine immunology epidemic Article Ethiopia measles vaccine major clinical study adult communicable disease seroepidemiology diphtheria vaccine rubella antibody hepatitis B vaccine mumps diphtheria antibody rubella vaccination hepatitis B poliomyelitis seroprevalence immunoglobulin G diphtheria measles tetanus mumps antibody hepatitis A antibody Seroepidemiologic Studies polio antibody hepatitis A vaccine Antibodies, Neutralizing mumps vaccine hepatitis B antibody chickenpox vaccine vaccine
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85041891848&doi=10.1016%2fj.vaccine.2018.01.079&partnerID=40&md5=b9e49057c938a895d4b76eb05c1df5bc
DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.01.079
ISSN: 0264410X
Cited by: 14
Original Language: English