Gee, and I thought infants could handle 10,000 vaccines, their immune systems were so strong.... - SM
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/324/7336/502/b
BMJ 2002;324:502 ( 2 March )
Deborah Josefson
Infants and children aged under 2 years are extremely susceptible to
influenza virus and should receive flu jabs, says the vaccine
advisory committee of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Advisory Committee of Immunisation Practices is urging flu vaccination
of infants aged 6 months to 23 months, starting at the
beginning of the next flu season (autumn 2002-3).
Although the committee fell short of making a full recommendation, it is
expected to make the recommendation official within three years,
pending the outcome of studies of the effect of more vaccines on
parents and providers. Infants already receive about 20 immunisation
injections.
Currently, flu vaccination is recommended for elderly people aged
65 and over, healthcare workers, pregnant women, and people who
are chronically ill. Patients with respiratory problems such as
asthma, emphysema, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and
those with renal failure, heart failure, and diabetes are especially
vulnerable to flu. Infants also represent an immunocompromised group,
as their immune systems are inexperienced, lacking the antigenic
exposure acquired through time.
The vaccine advisory committee based its new guidance on the results of two
recent studies which found that babies aged 6-23 months were at
increased risk for flu related admissions to hospital.
One of the studies was led by Dr Keiji Fukuda, an epidemiologist on the
vaccine advisory committee. Dr Fukuda analysed admissions data from
thousands of previously healthy children aged 6 months to
18 years enrolled in managed care practices of Kaiser Permanente Medical
Group in northern California and Group Health Cooperative health
plan in Seattle from 1992 to 1997 (New England Journal of
Medicine 2000:342:232-9).
Overall, he found that children aged under 2 were 12 times more
likely to be admitted for respiratory illnesses than those aged 5-17 years.
The other study was led by Dr Kathleen Neuzil, an infectious disease
specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr Neuzil
followed children younger than 15 years old enrolled in the
Tennessee Medicaid programme from 1973 to 1993 (New England Journal
of Medicine 2000;342: 225-31).
Dr Neuzil's team found that infants aged under 1 year were as likely as
elderly and high risk groups to be admitted for flu.
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