Profile of serogroup Y meningococcal infections in Canada: Implications for vaccine selection.
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.
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario;
Nicole
N
Le Saux
Julie A
JA
Bettinger
Susan
S
Wootton
Scott A
SA
Halperin
Wendy
W
Vaudry
David W
DW
Scheifele
Raymond
R
Tsang