The Real-World Study of Immunogenicity and Safety of the Adjuvant Recombinant Vaccine against Varicella Zoster Virus in Patients with Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases Treated with Janus Kinase Inhibitors

Background. The risk of herpes zoster reactivation is increased in immunocompromised patients, especially in those with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) on Janus kinase inhibitor (JAKi) treatment. The recombinant subunit herpes zoster vaccine (RZV) is a non-live vaccine, recently approved for this subgroup of patients, which shows high rates of vaccine effectiveness, with few adverse effects reported in clinical trials. Purpose. The aim of this real-world study was to determine the immunogenicity and safety of RZV in IMID patients on JAKi treatment. Methods. The increase in the concentration of anti-gE antibody for varicella zoster virus post-vaccination, compared to the pre-vaccination concentration, was analyzed to test the humoral immune response. Adverse effects after the first and second vaccine doses were registered. Results. In total, 49 patients were analyzed, and a fourfold increase in antibody concentration was achieved in almost 40% of subjects, with only one serious local adverse effect. Discussion. The resulting immunogenicity was lower than that observed in clinical trials, probably due to the presence of immune disease and immunosuppressive treatment, and to the fact that this was a real-world study. No differences in response according to age, previous virus zoster reactivation, or concomitant treatments were found. Conclusions. RZV was well tolerated and reached the immune response objective in 40% of patients. These results reinforce the importance of including RZV vaccination for immunosuppressed patients. Real-world studies regarding vaccine effectiveness are still needed in order to gain a full understanding of the response to RZV in this group of patients.

Detection of Helicobacter pylori and the genotypes of resistance to clarithromycin and the heterogeneous genotype to this antibiotic in biopsies obtained from symptomatic children

The aim of this study was to use a commercially available kit (GenoType® HelicoDR; Hain Life Science, Germany) to detect Helicobacter pylori infection and clarithromycin resistance genotype in biopsies obtained from symptomatic children.

RESULTS

111 out of 136 (81.6%) biopsies were H. pylori positive by genotype: 47 (42.3%) showed wild-type genotype, 53 resistant genotype (47.7%) and 11 heterogeneous genotype (9.9%). Culture was negative in 27 out of the 111 genotyped biopsies. Mutation A2143G (87.5%), followed by A2142G (7.5%) and double mutant A2142C-A2143G (5%) were found. The 11 heterogeneous genotype biopsies showed wild-type plus A2143G in 9 and plus A2142G in 2.

CONCLUSIONS

This kit is a rapid, culture-independent method for routine application in biopsies from the pediatric population that allows detection of clarithromycin resistance and heterogeneous genotypes. It is important to know the clinical impact of infection with this type of strains as well as the role in treatment success.

[Antibiotic susceptibility of Corynebacterium macginleyi strains causing conjunctivitis]

INTRODUCTION

Lipophilic corynebacteria are part of the saprophytic skin flora and they rarely cause infection. C. macginleyi is an exception since it has been involved in conjunctivitis and other ocular surface affections.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Thirty three C. macginleyi strains were obtained from conjunctival swabs from patients with conjunctivitis symptoms. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for 7 antibiotics (penicillin, gentamycin, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, vancomycin, rifampicin and linezolid) was tested by broth microdilution method.

RESULTS

One strain was resistant to ciprofloxacin (MIC=16 mg/L) and two were resistant to tetracycline (MIC= 64 y 16 mg/L). The rest of the strains were susceptible to all the antibiotics tested.

CONCLUSIONS

At the moment, C. macginleyi does not present a major problem due to the low resistance rates shown in the present and other studies. However, epidemiological surveillance of its susceptibility pattern is needed as well as an appropriate use of topical antibiotics in order to achieve a good infection control.