IJERPH, Vol. 16, Pages 2713: A Systematic Review for Vaccine-Preventable Diseases on Ships: Evidence for Cross-Border Transmission and for Pre-Employment Immunization Need

IJERPH, Vol. 16, Pages 2713: A Systematic Review for Vaccine-Preventable Diseases on Ships: Evidence for Cross-Border Transmission and for Pre-Employment Immunization Need International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph16152713 Authors: Varvara Mouchtouri Hannah Lewis Christos Hadjichristodoulou the EU SHIPSAN ACT Joint Action Partnership A literature review was conducted to identify evidence of cases and outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) that have been reported from on board ships and the methods applied on board for prevention and control, worldwide, in 1990 to April 2019. Moreover, evidence from seroprevalence studies for the same diseases were also included. The literature review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews (PRISMA) guidelines. A total of 1795 cases (115 outbreaks, 7 case reports) were identified, the majority were among crew (1466/1795, 81.7%) and were varicella cases (1497, 83.4%). The origin of crew cases was from sub-tropical countries in many reports. Measles (40 cases, 69% among crew), rubella (47, 88.7%), herpes zoster (9, 69.2%) and varicella cases (1316, 87.9%) were more frequent among crew. Mumps cases were equal among passengers and crew (22/22). Hepatitis A (73/92, 70.3%), meningococcal meningitis (16/29, 44.8%), and pertussis (9/9) were more frequent among passengers. Two outbreaks resulted in 262 secondary measles cases on land. Review results ...
Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research