Profile of serogroup Y meningococcal infections in Canada : implications for vaccine selection

• Main Authors: Le Saux, Nicole, Bettinger, Julie A., Wootton, Susan, Halperin, Scott A., Vaudry, Wendy, Scheifele, David W., Tsang, Raymond
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Invasive meningococcal disease; Meningococcal vaccine; Morbidity; Mortality; Neisseria meningitides; Serogroups A; C; Y; W135; Nunavut; Canada; Prince Edward Island
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/57199; https://doi.org/10.14288/1.0228249

Canada is a leader in establishing routine infant immunization programs against meningococcal C disease. Currently, all provinces have routine programs to provide meningococcal C conjugate vaccines to infants and children. The result of the existing programs has been a decrease in serogroup C incidence. The second most common vaccinepreventable serogroup in Canada is serogroup Y, the incidence of which has been stable. The availability of a quadrivalent conjugate vaccine against serogroups A, C, Y and W135 focuses attention on serogroup Y disease as it becomes relatively more prominent as a cause of vaccine-preventable invasive meningococcal disease. This vaccine was licensed in November 2006 but is not routinely used except in Nunavut, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. To allow a better understanding of the ‘value added’ by a serogroup Y-containing vaccine, it is necessary to have a contemporary profile of Y disease in Canada. In the present paper, recent surveillance data on invasive meningococcal disease across Canada are summarized. Infectious Diseases, Division of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Pediatrics, Department of Non UBC Reviewed Faculty