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Nordholm AC, Emborg HD, Nørgaard SK, Nygaard U, Ronayne A, Nielsen LB, Søborg B, Andersen PH, Dalby T. Pertussis epidemic in Denmark, August 2023 to February 2024. Euro Surveill 2024; 29:2400160. [PMID: 38577803 PMCID: PMC11004589 DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.es.2024.29.14.2400160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2024] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/06/2024] Open
Abstract
We report a record high pertussis epidemic in Denmark since August 2023. Highest incidence was in adolescents, while peak incidence in infants was lower vs previous epidemics in 2019 and 2016. Among infants aged 0-2 months, over half (29/48) were hospitalised and one infant died, underlining the disease severity in the youngest. To protect infants, pertussis vaccination in pregnant women was introduced in January 2024 in the national vaccination programme. Improved vaccination surveillance in pregnant women is being implemented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Christine Nordholm
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Hanne-Dorthe Emborg
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Sarah Kristine Nørgaard
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ulrikka Nygaard
- Department of Paediatrics and Adolescents, Rigshospitalet Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Aoife Ronayne
- Department of Bacteria, Parasites and Fungi, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Lise Birk Nielsen
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Bolette Søborg
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Peter H Andersen
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Tine Dalby
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Lomholt FK, Emborg HD, Nørgaard SK, Nielsen J, Munkstrup C, Møller KL, Krog JS, Trebbien R, Vestergaard LS. Resurgence of Respiratory Syncytial Virus in the Summer of 2021 in Denmark-a Large out-of-season Epidemic Affecting Older Children. Open Forum Infect Dis 2024; 11:ofae069. [PMID: 38495773 PMCID: PMC10941316 DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofae069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 03/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Background When coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions were lifted in Denmark in the spring of 2021, a surge in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases followed, causing a large out-of-season epidemic. This study aims to investigate the summer epidemic compared with 3 typical pre-COVID-19 RSV winter seasons using Danish registers to identify RSV cases, RSV-related admissions, and use of intensive care treatment. Methods Incidence rates (IR) per 1000 person-years for RSV cases, RSV-related admissions, and intensive care treatment were calculated with 95% confidence interval (CI) for each season, stratified by age groups and incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% CI were calculated to compare the summer epidemic with the winter season for 2019-2020. Results In the summer epidemic, the IR of RSV cases and admissions exceeded previous winter seasons for all age groups. The highest increases in IRs were seen among children aged 2 to 3 years and 4 to 5 years. The IRR of cases were 4.6 (95% CI, 4.1-5.2) and 3.3 (2.6-4.2) and the IRR of admissions were 3.3 (2.7-4.2) and 3.8 (2.3-6.5) in the 2 age groups, respectively, when compared with the winter season 2019-2020. Conclusions Likely because of immunity debt following COVID-19 restrictions, the summer epidemic was significantly larger than previous winter seasons, most markedly among children aged 2 to 3 and 4 to 5 years but had a similar disease severity spectrum.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hanne-Dorthe Emborg
- Department of Infections Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Sarah Kristine Nørgaard
- Department of Infections Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jens Nielsen
- Department of Infections Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Charlotte Munkstrup
- Department of Infections Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Jesper Schak Krog
- Department of Virus and Microbiological Special Diagnostics, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ramona Trebbien
- Department of Virus and Microbiological Special Diagnostics, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Lasse Skafte Vestergaard
- Department of Infections Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Nørgaard SK, Følsgaard N, Vissing NH, Kyvsgaard JN, Chawes B, Stokholm J, Smilde AK, Bønnelykke K, Bisgaard H, Rasmussen MA. Novel Connections of Common Childhood Illnesses Based on More Than 5 Million Diary Registrations From Birth Until Age 3 Years. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract 2023; 11:2162-2171.e6. [PMID: 37146879 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaip.2023.04.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND All children experience numerous episodes of illness during the first 3 years of life. Most episodes are mild and handled without medical attention but nevertheless burden the families and society. There is a large, and still unexplained, variation in the burden of illness between children. OBJECTIVE To describe and provide a better understanding of the disease burden of common childhood diseases through a data-driven approach investigating the communalities between symptom patterns and predefined variables on predispositions, pregnancy, birth, environment, and child development. METHODS The study is based on the prospectively followed clinical mother-child cohort COpenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, which includes 700 children with daily symptom registration in the first 3 years of life, including symptoms of cough, breathlessness, wheeze, cold, pneumonia, sore throat, ear infections, gastrointestinal infections, fever, and eczema. First, we described the number of episodes of symptoms. Next, factor analysis models were used to describe the variation in symptom load in the second year of life (both based on n = 556, with >90% complete diary). Then we characterized patterns of similarity between symptoms using a graphical network model (based on n = 403, with a 3-year monthly compliance of >50%). Finally, predispositions and pregnancy, birth, environmental, and developmental factors were added to the network model. RESULTS The children experienced a median of 17 (interquartile range, 12-23) episodes of symptoms during the first 3 years of life, of which most were respiratory tract infections (median, 13; interquartile range, 9-18). The frequency of symptoms was the highest during the second year of life. Eczema symptoms were unrelated to the other symptoms. The strongest association to respiratory symptoms was found for maternal asthma, maternal smoking during the third trimester, prematurity, and CDHR3 genotype. This was in contrast to the lack of associations for the well-established asthma locus at 17q21. CONCLUSIONS Healthy young children are burdened by multiple episodes of symptoms during the first 3 years of life. Prematurity, maternal asthma, and CDHR3 genotype were among the strongest drivers of symptom burden.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Kristine Nørgaard
- COPSAC (COpenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Nilo Følsgaard
- COPSAC (COpenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Nadja Hawwa Vissing
- COPSAC (COpenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Pediatrics and Adolescence Medicine, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Julie Nyholm Kyvsgaard
- COPSAC (COpenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Bo Chawes
- COPSAC (COpenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jakob Stokholm
- COPSAC (COpenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Pediatrics, Slagelse Hospital, Slagelse, Denmark; Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Age K Smilde
- Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Biosystems Data Analysis, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Klaus Bønnelykke
- COPSAC (COpenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Hans Bisgaard
- COPSAC (COpenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Morten Arendt Rasmussen
- COPSAC (COpenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Voss SS, Nørgaard SK, Valentiner-Branth P. Identification of subgroups in the Danish population for targeted human papillomavirus vaccination efforts. Vaccine 2023; 41:3525-3533. [PMID: 37142460 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.04.060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND In the Danish childhood vaccination program, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage is lower than for other vaccines. To tailor a targeted HPV vaccination effort, we aimed to identify girls in Denmark with lower first dose HPV vaccination coverage than girls in general. METHODS A population-based retrospective cohort study was performed of girls born in 2001-2004, residing in Denmark in September 2019 (N = 128,351). Data from the Danish Vaccination Register was linked to sociodemographic data from the Danish Civil Registration System and Statistics Denmark. Cox's proportional hazard regression models were used to compare vaccination uptake rates between subgroups of girls. RESULTS HPV vaccination coverage at 14 years of age varied widely by municipality (53.4-80.6%). Girls living with neither of their parents had a lower chance of being vaccinated compared to girls living with both their parents (HR 0.43; 95% CI 0.41-0.46), likewise for girls attending special need education compared with girls attending public schools (HR 0.50; 95% CI 0.42-0.59). The vaccination uptake among immigrants was lower compared to Danish-born girls (HR 0.51; 95% CI 0.49-0.54), especially among immigrant girls whose parents had not passed any Danish exams. Finally, girls who were DTaP-IPV revaccinated had a 50% greater chance of being HPV vaccinated compared to girls who were not (HR 1.61; 95% CI 1.58-1.64). CONCLUSION To increase the HPV vaccination uptake, we recommend vaccination efforts targeting girls living without any of their parents, girls attending special need education, immigrants, and girls who are not DTaP-IPV revaccinated. When targeting immigrants, the effort should focus on disseminating sufficient and understandable information about the Danish childhood vaccination program to the parents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sidsel Skou Voss
- European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden; Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Artillerivej 5, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark.
| | - Sarah Kristine Nørgaard
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Artillerivej 5, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark.
| | - Palle Valentiner-Branth
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Artillerivej 5, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark.
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Nørgaard SK, Vissing NH, Chawes BL, Stokholm J, Bønnelykke K, Bisgaard H. Cost of Illness in Young Children: A Prospective Birth Cohort Study. Children (Basel) 2021; 8:children8030173. [PMID: 33668336 PMCID: PMC7996350 DOI: 10.3390/children8030173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2020] [Revised: 02/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Childhood illness is extremely common and imposes a considerable economic burden on society. We aimed to quantify the overall economic burden of childhood illness in the first three years of life and the impact of environmental risk factors. The study is based on the prospective, clinical mother-child cohort Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC2010) of 700 children with embedded randomized trials of fish-oil and vitamin D supplementations during pregnancy. First, descriptive analyses were performed on the total costs of illness, defined as both the direct costs (hospitalizations, outpatient visits, visit to the practitioner) and the indirect costs (lost earnings) collected from the Danish National Health Registries. Thereafter, linear regression analyses on log-transformed costs were used to investigate environmental determinants of the costs of illness. The median standardized total cost of illness at age 0-3 years among the 559 children eligible for analyses was EUR 14,061 (IQR 9751-19,662). The exposures associated with reduced costs were fish-oil supplementation during pregnancy (adjusted geometric mean ratio (GMR) 0.89 (0.80; 0.98), p = 0.02), gestational age in weeks (aGMR = 0.93 (0.91; 0.96), p < 0.0001), and birth weight per 100 g (aGMR 0.98 (0.97; 0.99), p = 0.0003), while cesarean delivery was associated with higher costs (aGMR = 1.30 (1.15; 1.47), p < 0.0001). In conclusion, common childhood illnesses are associated with significant health-related costs, which can potentially be reduced by targeting perinatal risk factors, including maternal diet during pregnancy, cesarean delivery, preterm birth and low birth weight.
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Larsen HD, Fonager J, Lomholt FK, Dalby T, Benedetti G, Kristensen B, Urth TR, Rasmussen M, Lassaunière R, Rasmussen TB, Strandbygaard B, Lohse L, Chaine M, Møller KL, Berthelsen ASN, Nørgaard SK, Sönksen UW, Boklund AE, Hammer AS, Belsham GJ, Krause TG, Mortensen S, Bøtner A, Fomsgaard A, Mølbak K. Preliminary report of an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in mink and mink farmers associated with community spread, Denmark, June to November 2020. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2021; 26. [PMID: 33541485 PMCID: PMC7863232 DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.es.2021.26.5.210009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
In June–November 2020, SARS-CoV-2-infected mink were detected in 290 of 1,147 Danish mink farms. In North Denmark Region, 30% (324/1,092) of people found connected to mink farms tested SARS-CoV-2-PCR-positive and approximately 27% (95% confidence interval (CI): 25–30) of SARS-CoV-2-strains from humans in the community were mink-associated. Measures proved insufficient to mitigate spread. On 4 November, the government ordered culling of all Danish mink. Farmed mink constitute a potential virus reservoir challenging pandemic control.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Tine Dalby
- Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Anette Ella Boklund
- Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anne Sofie Hammer
- Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Graham J Belsham
- Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Sten Mortensen
- Department of Animal Health, Danish Veterinary and Food administration, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anette Bøtner
- Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Kåre Mølbak
- Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
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