Vaccine Preventable Disease on Campus

Abstract

Vaccine preventable diseases (VPD) have declined as a cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. From more than 500,000 cases of measles reported annually in the prevaccine era, there were only 1,436 cases reported in 1983 (38% on college campuses); from more than 12.5 million reported cases of acquired rubella and 20,000 cases of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) reported in 1964, there were only 954 reported cases of rubella (an unknown number occurred on campuses) and 4 cases of CRS reported in 1983. Only 6 cases of diphtheria (1 occurred on a campus), 8 cases of paralytic polio, and 75 cases of tetanus were reported in 1983 in the United States.

While these declines have been dramatic, significant morbidity from these VPDs persist. Up to 25% of college age adults remain susceptible to measles and rubella. Most students would be eligible for their first booster (10 years after preschool dose) at the time of college entrance, 62% of young adults (18–39 years of age) are estimated to be susceptible to diphtheria, and 11% are estimated to be susceptible to tetanus. Fewer than 5% of young adults are believed to be susceptible to polio.

Measles and rubella continue to be associated with college outbreaks. All cases of measles and rubella should be reported to local health departments. College and universities have the opportunity to ensure the protection of their students, faculty, and employees by establishing and enforcing immunization requirements for measles, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, and polio as a condition of matriculation, registration, or unemployment.     

Measles and Rubella on College Campuses: The Need to Act

Abstract

The lack of immunization requirements at the nation's colleges and universities threatens the maintenance of the interruption of indigenous measles in the United States. The high susceptibility rates in some college populations coupled with the high mobility of college students who may travel to countries where measles is endemic or epidemic increases the potential for measles outbreaks.

Preventing measles in college-age populations is particularly important because the disease can be more serious in adults. In view of the importance of preventing measles in college students, the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP) of the U.S. Public Health Service has recommended that officials strongly consider immunization requirements for college entry.

The ultimate goal of rubella immunization is the protection of a future fetus against damage from intrauterine infection. Although rubella cases are reported routinely on college campuses, most colleges make no effort at controlling these outbreaks or instituting immunization requirements. The ACIP strongly urges educational institutions to require proof of immunity to rubella for registration or employment.     

Explaining the Origins of Public Relations: Logics of Historical Explanation

This study reviews a major body of research—historical explanations for the emergence of public relations as a social institution. This review of public relations histories identifies three distinct logics of historical explanation—a functionalist logic, an institutional logic, and a cultural logic. It then describes how these three logics are used in public relations histories and explores the theoretical and methodological challenges that each of these approaches presents.     

Work–family conflict and stress: indications of the distinctiveness of role combination stress for Belgian working mothers

Research on the relation between work-family conflict (WFC) and stress focuses either on domain/role-specific stress (e.g. work stress), which is by definition and, operationalisation attributed to the respective role, or it focuses on ‘general’ stress, which can be a too broad or too general concept to measure stress related to WFC. This study introduces the concept of ‘role combination stress’ to indicate a stress that is more specifically related to the work-family role system and WFC than general and role-specific stress. The analysis of data on 429 Flemish working mothers shows that role combination stress is indeed a distinct type of stress.     

La flexicurité en Belgique: une proposition fondée sur des principes économiques

En Belgique, l'assurance chǒmage et la législation sur la protection de l'emploi en vigueur ont été conçues dans un contexte oü les relations entre les travailleurs et les entreprises étaient durables et stables. La mondialisation de l'économie et les rapides changements technologiques et organisationnels les obligent à plus de flexibilité. Les institutions doivent ětre réformées rapidement pour accorder ce nouveau besoin avec celui de sécurité pour les travailleurs. L'appel à la «flexicurité» n'est pas nouveau, mais il n'y a pas d'unanimité sur le modèle institutionnel qu'elle implique. Les auteurs proposent une réforme qui est explicitement fondée sur des principes issus de l'analyse économique.     

The Rise of Age Homogamy in 19th Century Western Europe

In many parts of Western Europe the age at first marriage and the level of celibacy declined in the second half of the 19th century. This weakening of the European marriage pattern (EMP) can be interpreted as a “classic” response to the increase of the standard of living, but a more far‐reaching interpretation is that the erosion of the EMP was part of a cultural shift characterized by the rise of a new, less instrumental and more egalitarian view on marriage and partner selection. The latter vision implies the increase of the preference for a same age marriage. We test this explanation by using a combined Belgian‐Dutch data set of marriage certificates (N = 766,412). Our findings corroborate the “cultural shift thesis.”     

The Influence of Preference Information on Equivalent Income

Equivalent income (EI) has been proposed as an interesting measure for well-being. It summarizes the achievement in terms of different dimensions of well-being into one indicator while explicitly taking into account individual preferences over these dimensions. Acquiring the necessary information on these individual preferences over the dimensions of well-being is not an easy task, though. One way is to derive them from subjective well-being (SWB) information. The most often used SWB question is satisfaction with life. In this article we calculate EI based on preferences derived from three often used SWB questions: satisfaction with life, happiness and the extent to which individuals consider what they do in life as valuable. Then we analyse the profile of the worst off according to the measures. The results show that the achievements in terms of the dimensions of well-being matters more for the EI calculations than the preferences. When analyzing the worst off, it is shown that the profile of the individuals considered as badly off by each of the equivalent income measures differs.     

Connecting entrepreneurship with policy experimentation? The EU framework for social innovation

This article investigates how “social innovation” made its way onto the European Union (EU) agenda and how this notion has been creatively used to advance distinct policy goals. It does so by analysing the resources the EU provided to promote social innovation over the period 2006–2014. Three main conclusions arise. First, between 2006 and 2010 the label social innovation was rarely used, although several EU instruments and processes supported it. Second, throughout 2009–2010, the European Commission’s Bureau of European Policy Advisers played a key agenda setting role in flagging social innovation on the eve of the Europe 2020 Strategy. Consequently, and third, since 2010 social innovation has been explicitly mainstreamed into the EUs new growth strategy. This phase is characterized by a stronger emphasis on “social entrepreneurship” and “social experimentation”. As a result, social innovation has become an important tool in the European Semester’s focus on the reform of the welfare state.