Influenza News

BOSTON — Pregnant women were more likely to receive the influenza vaccine when compared with years prior. Those who received the vaccine were no more likely to have a miscarriage when compared with those who did not receive the vaccine, according to new findings from two studies presented here.

CDC officials reported low levels of influenza activity from May 22 to Sept. 3 in the United States. Most isolates were antigenically similar to influenza vaccine strains in the Northern Hemisphere 2011-2012 vaccine, officials said in a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Early circulation of one influenza strain is typically associated with a reduced total incidence or interference of other strains throughout the season, according to data published online this week.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recommended heightened readiness and surveillance due to the possibility of a significant resurgence of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza. A mutant strain of the virus is spreading throughout Asia, according to an agency press release.

As the number of students studying abroad has climbed steadily in the past decade, from fewer than 100,000 students in 1997 to more than 260,000 students in 2008/09 (according to the Institute of International Education Open Doors Report). Although the largest number of students study abroad in Europe, there is a significant increase in the numbers of students going to developing countries, where health concerns can be different than in the US.

It’s been a hard week. The infectious diseases ward of our hospital is so full that we have to put many children who normally would be in isolation wings on regular floors. The 3-year-old with smallpox died early this morning, and the three infants on the ventilator with measles pneumonia are not far behind.

New CDC data released today indicate that influenza vaccination rates for health care workers are significantly below the Healthy People 2020 target of 90% coverage — approximately 63.5% of health care workers were vaccinated for the 2010-2011 season.

Children aged younger than 3 years receive the same protective antibody response from the recommended two doses of seasonal influenza vaccines, regardless of whether the doses were from the live-attenuated influenza vaccine or the trivalent inactivated vaccine, according to research published online.

Two doses of pandemic influenza A vaccine are needed to receive a reliable immune response in adolescent pediatric liver transplant patients, according to a study.

A case of a 3-year-old boy developing hemorrhagic shock and encephalopathy syndrome from pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza revealed that hyperthermia could be related to the development of the syndrome, according to researchers.