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. 2009 Winter;20(4):e130-4.
doi: 10.1155/2009/871071.

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

Nicole Le Saux  1 , Julie A Bettinger, Susan Wootton, Scott A Halperin, Wendy Vaudry, David W Scheifele, Raymond Tsang
Affiliations

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

Nicole Le Saux et al. Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol. 2009 Winter.

Abstract
in English, French

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 vaccine-preventable 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.

Le Canada est un chef de file dans la mise en œuvre de programmes systématiques de vaccination des enfants contre la maladie à méningocoque de sérogroupe C. Toutes les provinces sont dotées de programmes systématiques pour administrer le vaccin conjugué contre le méningocoque de sérogroupe C aux nourrissons et aux enfants. Grâce à ces programmes, l’incidence du sérogroupe C a diminué. Le deuxième sérogroupe évitable par un vaccin en importance au Canada est le sérogroupe Y, dont l’incidence est stable. La disponibilité d’un vaccin conjugué quadrivalent contre les sérogroupes A, C, Y et W135 fixe l’attention sur la maladie à sérogroupe Y, qui devient relativement plus dominante comme cause de maladie à méningocoque envahissante évitable par un vaccin. Ce vaccin a été homologué en novembre 2006, mais il n’est pas utilisé systématiquement, sauf au Nunavut, au Nouveau-Brunswick et à l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard. Afin de mieux comprendre la « valeur ajoutée » d’un vaccin contenant le sérogroupe Y, il est nécessaire de disposer d’un profil contemporain de la maladie à sérogroupe Y au Canada. Dans le présent article, on résume les récentes données de surveillance sur la maladie à méningocoque envahissante au Canada.

Keywords: Invasive meningococcal disease; Meningococcal vaccine; Morbidity; Mortality; Neisseria meningitides; Serogroups A, C, Y, W135.

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