TY - JOUR
TI - Suboptimal Serologic Immunity Against Poliomyelitis Among New Migrant Children in Greece Calls for Organized Action
AU - Ioannidou, C.
AU - Galanis, P.
AU - Voulgari-Kokota, A.
AU - Dikalioti, S.K.
AU - Papachristidou, S.
AU - Bozas, E.
AU - Mentis, A.
AU - Tsoumakas, K.
AU - Pavlopoulou, I.D.
JO - Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
PY - 2022
VL - null
TODO - null
SP - null
PB - Springer-Verlag
SN - 1557-1912, 1557-1920
TODO - 10.1007/s10903-022-01363-3
TODO - null
TODO - Background: Migration-flows pose the risk of poliovirus reintroduction from endemic countries to Greece. This study aims to evaluate serologic-immunity/vaccination against poliomyelitis in newly-arriving migrant children. Methods: Demographic-immunisation data and blood-serum were obtained from migrants 1-14years-old, referred to a hospital-clinic in Athens-Greece within three months from arrival. Immunity to polioviruses-1-3 was determined by serum-neutralizing-antibodies(WHO guidelines). Titers ≥ 1:8 were considered positive. Results: From 9/2010 to 9/2013, 274 children(150 refugees/124 immigrants), mean age 7.1years-old, were enrolled. Only 57(20.8%) of them presented with vaccination-records. Children originated mainly from Asia(n = 198), Eastern Europe(n = 28), Middle East(n = 24) and Africa(n = 24) with 160(58.4%) from polio-endemic-countries(Afghanistan-112(40.8%), Pakistan-24(8.8%) and India-24(8.8%)). Seropositivity against polio-1-2&3 was 84.3%, 86.1% and 74.5%, respectively. Immigrants, had higher seroprotective rates against polioviruses-1-2&3 than refugees(polio-1:p = 0.002;polio-2:p = 0.004,polio-3:p < 0.001). Seronegativity to 1PVs-2PVs and all three polio serotypes was found in 37(13.5%),12 (4.4%), and 30 children(10.9%) respectively. Increasing number of vaccine-doses, and younger-age, were positively-associated with seropositivity. Discussion: A remarkable fraction of newly-arrived migrant-children were seronegative to one or more polioviruses. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
ER -