The immune status against tetanus and diphtheria in healthcare workers in Catalonia

Tdap Booster Vaccination for Adults: Real-World Adherence to Current Recommendations in Italy and Evaluation of Two Alternative Strategies

“…A national population-based seroprevalence study conducted in Italy in 2003–2004 showed that only 77.8% of individuals aged 25–44 years and 43.4% of individuals aged 45–64 years had protective antibody titers against T (i.e., >0.1 IU/mL) [ 10 ]. A serosurvey in 2016–2017 among 509 healthcare workers in Catalonia, Spain, showed sufficient protection against T in younger age groups but percentages of protected individuals against D of only 66.7% and 55.4% in the age groups of 35–44 years and 45–54 years, respectively [ 12 ]. Grasse et al in 2010 compared immunological response following Tdap immunization in an elderly (range = 66–92 years of age) and a young cohort (range 24–40 years of age), finding that in the latter, 100% were protected against T, but 52% were not protected against D, and that 5 years after immunization, sufficient protection was still present for T, but 24% were again not protected against D [ 17 ].…”

“…Epidemiological data are confirmed and integrated by a wealth of seroprevalence studies revealing that the percentage of individuals without protective antibody levels against T and D increases with age, and it is highest for older adults and elderly [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. Serosurveys also demonstrate the persistent circulation of Bordetella pertussis in adolescents and adults in Europe, with a negligible proportion of individuals not having acquired the infection recently [ 13 , 14 ].…”

Tetanus immunization among healthcare professionals: cross-sectional study in Turkey

“…Studies in Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Australia, Italy and France have demonstrated that tetanus and diphtheria-specific antibody levels in adults, especially in the elderly, are below the protective level (> 0.1 IU/mL) [12]. A multicenter study conducted in Catalonia found that 94.7% of healthcare professionals have protective antibodies against tetanus; this rate was 98.5% under the age of < 25 years and 85.1% above the age of ≥ 55 years [13]. The tetanus antibody level decreases with advancing age and this leads to higher frequency of tetanus infection in older age.…”

Seroprevalence of diphtheria and measles antibodies and their association with demographics, self-reported immunity, and immunogenetic factors in healthcare workers in Latvia

“…Despite a high percent of HCW (95.5%) with protective antibodies against diphtheria [29] in our group, only 65.9% of them had the full seroprotection against it (antibodies ≥ 0.10 IU/ml). This level of antibodies can provide a more successful reduction of the rate of diphtheria [29] , as it is also considered in recent studies [9] , [11] , [34] , [35] . The rate of the full seroprotection in our HCW group concurs with data on HCW from Catalonia (68.8%) [34] , where, similarly to Latvia, booster vaccination against diphtheria in adults has started since 1995.…”

“…This level of antibodies can provide a more successful reduction of the rate of diphtheria [29] , as it is also considered in recent studies [9] , [11] , [34] , [35] . The rate of the full seroprotection in our HCW group concurs with data on HCW from Catalonia (68.8%) [34] , where, similarly to Latvia, booster vaccination against diphtheria in adults has started since 1995. At the same time, a study of paediatric HCW in Denmark [9] and in Finland [11] showed a higher rate of full seroprotection against diphtheria (80.5% and 89.9%, respectively) than in our study.…”