Influenza News

Despite a CDC recommendation that everyone aged 6 months or older receive a seasonal influenza vaccine, only 24.5% of childcare centers reported having a child influenza vaccine requirement, and even fewer centers required caregivers to be vaccinated, according to a study published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

Study findings showed that last season’s influenza vaccine “offered no substantial protection” against H3N2 viruses that moved through the United States late in the season, highlighting the ongoing challenge of producing a vaccine that works against this influenza A subtype and leading two experts to wonder if an additional H3N2 strain should be added to the seasonal vaccine.

The proportion of outpatient visits attributed to influenza-like illness climbed above the national baseline for the first time this season, comprising 2.5% of visits during the week ending Nov. 16, according to CDC FluView data.

Neither seasonal severity nor vaccine effectiveness were associated with influenza vaccination rates over eight recent influenza seasons, although vaccination rates have decreased overall in recent years, according to study findings published in JAMA Pediatrics.

The FDA has approved Xofluza for the treatment of patients aged 12 years or older who are at high risk for developing influenza-related complications and have been symptomatic for no more than 2 days, Genentech announced.

In a study conducted among nearly 500 influenza vaccine-naive mother-infant pairs in Malawi, researchers found that maternal HIV infection was associated with lower antibody responses to influenza A viruses in both mothers and their infants, suggesting that influenza vaccines “may have variable efficacy in sub-Saharan Africa” where there is a high burden of HIV, researchers said.

The theme of this year’s International Infection Prevention Week, which runs from Oct. 13 to 19, is “Vaccines are Everybody’s Business.”

WASHINGTON — Influenza vaccination reduced the risk for influenza-related hospitalization in children by nearly half and the odds of death in adults by about 36% over several recent influenza seasons, according to CDC data from two studies presented at IDWeek.

WASHINGTON — Cell- and egg-based quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccines have comparable immunogenicity for children aged 4 years and older, according to results from a randomized controlled trial presented at IDWeek.

WASHINGTON — Although influenza vaccination rates have increased, new data released by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases indicated that barely half of U.S. adults plan to get vaccinated against influenza this season.