Influenza News

School-based clinics providing influenza vaccinations to school-aged children reduced the rate of influenza-related absenteeism from schools in Arkansas, according to recent study findings.

Women who received seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine during pregnancy were 51% less likely to experience stillbirth than those who did not receive the immunization, according to a study recently published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Recent findings published in Hospital Pediatrics showed that the use of the antiviral drug Tamiflu continued to rise among hospitalized children after the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices continued to recommend that all people aged 6 months and older be vaccinated annually against influenza during its recent meeting and also amended language and voted 11-0, with three abstentions, for patients with egg allergies to receive the live-attenuated influenza vaccine.

The incidence of influenza hospitalizations appeared to be greater within poorer regions of the United States, according to recent MMWR data.

More than 50% of children aged 6 to 23 months are not fully vaccinated against influenza, according to recent research in Pediatrics.

Region-focused and gradual school closure policies, which target schools with high levels of influenza, may prevent widespread outbreaks of pandemic influenza and decrease the cost burden associated with current response policies, according to research in PLOS Computational Biology.

Live-attenuated influenza vaccine was not as effective as inactivated vaccine at protecting children and adolescents against the influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 strain; however, the two vaccines were equally effective against influenza A(H3N2) and B strains, according to data in Pediatrics.

Data from the U.S. Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Network showed that quadrivalent live-attenuated influenza vaccine offered little protection to children during the 2013-2014 flu season.

Viral shedding of influenza B occurred before the onset of acute respiratory symptoms and after clinical improvement, suggesting illness profiles may not amply represent infectiousness, according to a recent study.