More than a year into the coronavirus-19 pandemic, intensified infection control measures have controlled most viral respiratory infections in Tokyo, Japan. As of July 2021, however, an unusually ...high number of respiratory syncytial virus infections were reported in Tokyo. This resurgence may have resulted from restarting social activities for children.
Japan's immunization program resumed proactively recommending the use of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine nationwide in April 2022, after suspending this recommendation in June 2013. The ...promotion of catch-up vaccinations is an urgent issue to reduce the increase in cervical cancer and other cancers caused by low vaccination rates. In addition, the National Immunization Program still has issues to be considered, such as the adoption of the 9-valent vaccine, establishment of an appropriate number of vaccinations according to age, and routine immunization of males. There is a history of eliminating the use of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the mouse brain-derived, purified inactivated Japanese encephalitis vaccine, as well as suspending the HPV vaccine recommendation in Japan. These decisions have led to the current preventable infectious disease burden. In order to make the right policy decisions based on science-based assessments, it is necessary to establish a safety assessment platform to evaluate the causal relationship between vaccines and adverse events following immunization. Information technology, which has been promoted with the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine in the current pandemic, may assist in providing more detailed vaccine safety evaluations for other vaccines.
•The relationship between infectivity of COVID-19 and temperature is not clear.•Mean temperature in February 2020 were associated with the cumulative number of COVID-19 case in Japan on March 16, ...2020.•Number of inbound visitors from China and old-age dependency rate were also associated with the cumulative number of cases.
To evaluate the influence of temperature on the infectivity of COVID-19 in Japan.
We evaluated the relationship between the accumulated number of patients per 1,000,000 population and the average temperature in February 2020 in each prefecture by Poisson regression analysis. We introduced the monthly number of inbound visitors from China in January 2020 in each prefecture and old-age dependency ratio as additional explanatory variables in the model.
Monthly inbound visitors from China in January 2020, old-age dependency ratio, and mean temperature in February 2020 are associated with the cumulative number of COVID-19 case on March 16, 2020.
Our analysis showed a possible association between low temperature and increased risk of COVID-19 infection. Further evaluation would be desirable at a global level.
Multiple severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants with higher transmission potential have been emerging globally, including SARS-CoV-2 variants from the United Kingdom ...and South Africa. We report 4 travelers from Brazil to Japan in January 2021 infected with a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant with an additional set of mutations.
Although ten vaccines against novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) have been placed on the World Health Organization (WHO)’s emergency use list, no vaccine has been developed by Japanese ...pharmaceutical companies. As of March 2022, 10 billion doses of vaccines have been administered worldwide 2 years after the infection was declared a pandemic by the WHO. Japan lacks a system for approval of pharmaceuticals at the stage of presumed efficacy in emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The absence of such an emergency approval mechanism is believed to have been a stumbling block to the rapid availability of urgently needed drugs. Further promotion of vaccine development in Japan will require comprehensive improvement of investment in the vaccine field, which is critically lacking from a long-term perspective.
“Take” after LC16m8 for mpox Okumura, Nobumasa; Ishikane, Masahiro; Ujiie, Mugen ...
International journal of infectious diseases,
September 2023, 2023-09-00, 20230901, 2023-09-01, Letnik:
134
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
•LC16m8 is an attenuated live vaccine comprising attenuated vaccinia virus strains.•LC16m8 was approved in Japan for the prevention of mpox in August 2022.•A local reaction called “take” is observed ...after inoculation with LC16m8.
Rubella and measles outbreaks in adults occur because of unimmunized or partially immunized status. Travel clinics play an important role in catch-up measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella ...immunization for adults. We evaluated the need for catch-up measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella immunization by young adults at our travel clinic. This retrospective observational study was conducted at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine from June 1, 2017 to May 31, 2018. Adults aged 16–49 years who received pre-travel consultation and had childhood immunization records were included. Individuals who fully or partially received planned measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella catch-up immunization were classified as “immunized.” We calculated the proportion of “immunized” individuals and analyzed the factors associated with catch-up measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella immunization at pre-travel consultation using logistic regression analysis. Overall, 3,456 individuals received pre-travel consultations during the study period; 827 (336 men, median age 22 years) had childhood immunization records. The most common trip purposes were study (33%) and tourism (24%). The most common destination was Asia (39%). Catch-up immunization of any measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella vaccine was needed by 755 individuals. After consultation, 20–46% of these participants who needed catchup immunization received at least one dose of immunization. Factors that are negatively associated with measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella catch-up immunization were tourism (odds ratio 0.37 to 0.58), yellow fever vaccination (0.45 to 0.50) (excluding varicella), and each disease history (0.13 to 0.40) (excluding rubella and varicella). Further studies are needed to identify barriers to catch-up immunization.
Changing trends in HPV vaccination in Japan Ujiie, Mugen; Kitano, Taito; Tsuzuki, Shinya
Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics,
12/2022, Letnik:
18, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
After the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) suspended its recommendation for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in June 2013, the rate of members of the new target population ...receiving of at least one of three doses of HPV vaccine declined, reaching 0.3% in 2016. Recently, however, the monthly number of vaccines delivered to healthcare facilities has significantly increased, from 878 doses over December 2016-April 2017 to 35,396 doses over January-March 2021. This may be due to governmental efforts to convey information about the HPV vaccination to the eligible population and their caregivers, as well as local educational programs, despite ongoing suspension of the recommendation. The incidence of reported adverse events per vaccine dose has not increased since 2016. While governmental recommendation of the HPV vaccination remains essential for optimal vaccine coverage, the recent increase in the number of doses delivered to healthcare facilities is promising.
To determine virus shedding duration, we examined clinical samples collected from the upper respiratory tracts of persons infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Omicron variant ...in Japan during November 29-December 18, 2021. Vaccinees with mild or asymptomatic infection shed infectious virus 6-9 days after onset or diagnosis, even after symptom resolution.
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