Influenza News

Repeated inactivated influenza immunization appeared to increase long-term protection against some respiratory illness episodes in children with pre-existing medical conditions, according to findings recently published in Annals of Family Medicine.

WHO expressed “severe concern” today over the conditions in the Rukban settlement in Syria, located near the border of Jordan, where approximately 40,000 people remain stranded.

Recent study findings published in Birth Defects Research demonstrate that infants born to mothers with severe influenza requiring ICU care were at risk of several adverse health outcomes, including prematurity.

An estimated 6 to 7 million Americans have been sickened with influenza during the current flu season, and more than 83,000 may have been hospitalized, the CDC reported today.

Concerns about the effectiveness of the quadivalent, live-attenuated influenza vaccine, or LAIV4, prompted both the AAP and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to recommend against its use during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 influenza seasons. New findings published in Pediatrics appear to support those recommendations.

Neurologic manifestations of influenza, including seizures and encephalopathy, occurred in nearly 20% of children presenting to a Colorado hospital during the 2016-2016 season, according to research published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. Most of these children were infected with influenza A(H3N2), and they were 10 times more likely to require hospitalization, researchers wrote.

Influenza and pneumonia together are the eighth-leading causes of death in the United States. Two major classes of antivirals were once the only options for treatment of influenza: matrix-2 proton pump inhibitors, which are effective against only influenza A viruses, and neuraminidase inhibitors, which have shown growing evidence of resistance from influenza strains.

New clinical practice guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America emphasize the need to test and promptly treat patients at high risk for seasonal influenza-related complications, including pregnant women, young children, patients who are extremely obese and those who have a weakened immune system.

A recent prospective cohort study found that regardless of the trimester of vaccination, women who received the influenza and pertussis vaccines did not have adverse birth outcomes compared with unvaccinated mothers.

A C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health demonstrated that a significant number of parents choose not to vaccinate their child against influenza. The survey showed that nearly 40% made they made their decision based on what they read or heard about the vaccine. Researchers said this is a result of an “echo chamber” effect related to negative information.