title: Diphtheria immunity in Flanders.
abstract: A serological survey to determine the immunity to diphtheria in the Flemish population was conducted according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization. Immunity to diphtheria was determined on a randomised, stratified sample (1679 serum samples) from an existing serum bank (4058 serum samples) representative of the Flemish population. All age groups between 0 and 100 years were included. A tissue (Vero cell) culture toxin neutralisation assay was used to measure serum diph-theria antitoxin concentrations. The results showed that 43% of the Flemish population was protected against diphtheria (antitoxin titre, > or = 0.1 IU/ml), while 32% was susceptible (antitoxin titre, < 0.01 IU/ml); for 25%, protection was of limited duration (antitoxin titre, > or = 0.01 IU/ml and < 0.1 IU/ml). The proportion of susceptible subjects showed a significant age-related increase, with the highest values in the 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 age groups (57.9% and 55.5%, respectively). These results emphasise the need for booster immunization of adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Matheï
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Van Damme
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bruynseels
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Goossens
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vranckx
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meheus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004165:Diphtheria / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D004166:Diphtheria Antitoxin / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009500:Neutralization Tests
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D004166:Diphtheria Antitoxin