Dear Reader,
In the current issue we are pleased to present a group of papers related to Rotavirus: a database study on the impact of rotavirus vaccination in Australian children (Pendleton, p), clinical data on efficacy and safety of pentavalent rotavirus vaccination in Japan (Iwata, p), a commentary on the possibility of a monovalent inactivated rotavirus vaccine to induce heterotypic immunity (Jiang, p), and clinical data on the safety and reactogenicity of a liquid human rotavirus vaccine (Li, p).
Two papers related to Immunotherapy look at the immunotherapeutic efficiency of a candidate Alzheimer vaccine in a mouse model for Alzheimer disease (Guan, p), and potential therapeutic anti-tumor effects of a Salmonella-based vaccine (Chang, p).
The section on Hepatitis features a Product History on the potential of 1018 ISS adjuvant in hepatitis B vaccines (Eng, p), a study examining the association between microRNA polymorphisms and humoral immunity to hepatitis B vaccine (Xiong, p), long-term anti-HBs antibody persistence following infant vaccination against hepatitis B (Poovorawan, p), long-term persistence of immunity following vaccination of pre-adolescents with recombinant hepatitis B vaccine (Gilca, p), and concomitant administration of hepatitis A vaccine with other pediatric vaccines in infants (Yetman, p).
A book review on emulsion-based vaccine adjuvants (O`Hagan, p), and a commentary on inactivated EV71 whole-virus vaccines (Liang, p) can be found in the rubric Novel Vaccines.
Two papers related to HPV investigate vaccination coverage among German women three years after recommendation of HPV vaccination for teenage girls (Deleré, p), and information and recommendations provided by Google in relation to web searches on the HPV vaccine (Pías-Peleteiro, p).
Studies on Influenza look at effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccine against clinically diagnosed influenza in children (He, p), and immunogenicity and safety of three 2010/2011 seasonal trivalent influenza vaccines (Luo, p).
In the section Licensed Vaccines we present papers on the validity of medical record-documented varicella history as a measure of varicella-zoster virus immunity among unvaccinated cohorts (Mohanty, p), and acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura as a rare adverse reaction to oral polio vaccine (Jin, p).
One study on Clinical Issues determines the validity of hospital laboratory reference intervals for healthy adults participating in early clinical vaccine trials (Rowland, p).
Finally, we are pleased to present a Special Focus on Vaccine Acceptance, kindly guest-edited by one of our Associate Editors, Dr Kristen Feemster from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (PA, US). Dr Feemster provides an introduction to the topic (Feemster, p) and summarizes the content of this Special Focus: parental vaccine hesitancy (Gowda, p), an overview on vaccine hesitancy (Dubé, p), an international perspective on public trust and vaccine acceptance (Ozawa, p), negotiating vaccine acceptance in an era of reluctance (Larson, p), vaccine concerns and choice of alternative immunization schedule (Wheeler, p), addressing heterogeneous parental concerns about vaccination with a multiple-source model (Hagood, p), utilizing story-telling to combat anti-vaccine misinformation (Shelby, p), utilizing health information technology to improve vaccine communication and coverage (Stockwell, p), society’s response to the risk of vaccine rejection (Ropeik, p), navigating disagreement and frustration in clinical encounters (Rentmeester, p), and provider dismissal policies and clustering of vaccine-hesitant families (Buttenheim, p). A follow-up on this Special Focus is planned for the end of this year, with a series of commentaries discussing several articles in this issue. If you wish to comment on one of the above articles or share your opinion on and experience with vaccine acceptance, feel free to contact the Acquisitions Editor Eva Riedmann (eva@landesbioscience.com).
As always, a selection of the latest news in the field of vaccines and immunotherapeutics is brought to you in our monthly News, Policy and Profiles (NP&P) section. In our NP&P track we also regularly present companies and organizations related to vaccines and immunotherapy. In the current issue we are pleased to have the Profile of NovaDigm Therapeutics, a US based company developing innovative vaccines to protect patients from fungal and bacterial infections, their lead product candidates targeting Candida and Staphylococcus aureus, including MRSA. Drs John Hennessey and Timothy Cooke kindly agreed to answer our questions. Please contact Acquisitions Editor Eva Riedmann (eva@landesbioscience.com) if you would like to see your company/organization featured in a future issue of HV&I. Also, commentaries on timely, interesting and controversial topics in the field of vaccines and/or immunotherapy are welcome.
Finally, we want to draw your attention to our newly designed homepage. We hope you like the new look and new features on the site, and that you find it easy to navigate. The new website is readable on all electronic devices, such as mobile phones and tablets. We continue to offer popular website features, including an RSS feed to see the latest published papers, a HV&I facebook account for daily updates, and you may also follow HV&I on twitter.
Sincerely,
Ronald Ellis, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
Eva M Riedmann, PhD
Acquisitions Editor
Footnotes
Previously published online: www.landesbioscience.com/journals/vaccines/article/26188