(Press-News.org) A study published on Eurosurveillance has demonstrated that Spain's influenza vaccination campaign for children aged 6-59 months during the 2023/24 season was effective in preventing acute respiratory infections (ARI) and hospitalisation, as vaccination was recommended for this age group at the national level for the first time.
In the context of Child Health Day 2024, this research emphasises that continued efforts should be made to increase vaccination coverage among children for future seasons.
Context and methods
Influenza A was dominant in the 2023/2024 season, with influenza B rarely being detected. The influenza vaccination campaign for children started in the autumn of 2023, with a national vaccination coverage of 31.6%.
The test-negative case–control study analysed surveillance data from 12 of 19 regions in Spain and 27 hospitals, and included pediatric patients aged 6-59 months that had been tested for influenza. The study comprised 1,364 patients presenting at primary care with acute respiratory infections, 244 of which tested positive for influenza (i.e. cases), and 302 patients hospitalised with severe acute respiratory infections (SARI), 48 of which tested positive for influenza (i.e. cases).
Influenza vaccination data for patients was then collected from regional vaccination records. Vaccine effectiveness was determined by comparing the vaccination rate of those who tested positive for influenza to the rate of those who did not, with higher vaccination rates for those who tested negative (i.e. controls) being indicative of effectiveness. Vaccine effectiveness was then adjusted for potential confounders including sex, age in months, epidemiological week, presence of chronic conditions, and region or hospital for ARI or SARI models.
Findings
The study estimated the influenza vaccine to be 70% effective against any influenza type (95% confidence interval (CI): 51 to 81%) in primary care patients with ARI, and 77% effective against influenza (95% CI: 21 to 93%) in hospitalised patients with SARI.
In primary care, influenza vaccine was found to be 77% effective (95% CI: 56 to 88%) against A(H1N1)pdm09.
Where influenza A viruses were subtyped, A(H1N1)pdm09 was the most frequent influenza virus subtype with 61.2% and 43.8% in primary care and hospitals, respectively, followed by A(H3N2), with 19% and 18.8%, respectively, and unsubtyped influenza A virus with 18.6%, and 35.4%, respectively. Circulation of influenza B virus was low.
Public health implications
It is estimated that 109 million influenza virus infections occur among children between 0–59 months worldwide, and infections can lead to severe disease and outcomes. In Spain, children under 5 years of age have the second highest rate of hospitalisation for influenza, just after the age group of over 65 year-olds. The results of this study are consistent with previous research supporting the effectiveness of influenza vaccines to protect children’s health.
END
Child Health Day 2024: influenza vaccine protects children from infection and hospitalization for the disease, Spanish study shows
2024-10-03
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Announcing the 2024 Glenn Foundation Discovery Awards: Jeffrey Friedman, MD, Ph.D/ (the Rockefeller University) and Myriam Heiman, Ph.D. (MIT)
2024-10-03
Santa Barbara, CA and New York, NY -- The Glenn Foundation for Medical Research (GFMR) and the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) are pleased to announce the 2024 recipients of the Glenn Foundation Discovery Awards: Jeffrey Friedman, MD, PhD (Professor, The Rockefeller University and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute) and Myriam Heiman, PhD (Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
The Glenn Foundation Discovery Award supports research projects with strong potential to develop pioneering discoveries to understand ...
Stem cell transplants close macular holes in monkeys
2024-10-03
Human stem cell transplants successfully repaired macular holes in a monkey model, researchers report October 3rd in the journal Stem Cell Reports. After transplantation, the macular holes were closed by continuous filling of the space with retinal tissue.
“We confirmed for the first time in a non-human primate model that embryonic stem-derived retinal organoid sheet transplantation facilitates the closure of macular holes,” says senior study author Michiko Mandai of the Kobe City Eye Hospital. “Our results suggest that this method could become a practical, safe, and effective ...
Our brains divide the day into chapters. New psychology research offers details on how.
2024-10-03
The moment a person steps off the street and into a restaurant—to take just one example—the brain mentally starts a new “chapter” of the day, a change that causes a big shift in brain activity. Shifts like this happen all day long, as people encounter new environments, like going out for lunch, attending their kid’s soccer game, or settling in for a night of watching TV.
But what determines how the brain divides the day into individual events that we can understand and remember separately? That’s what a new paper in the journal Current Biology aimed to find ...
Fear of cancer recurrence in adult survivors of childhood cancer
2024-10-03
About The Study: Decades following treatment, one-third of childhood cancer survivors in this study reported elevated fear their cancer will recur or a subsequent malignant neoplasm will develop. Findings suggest that fear of cancer recurrence should be routinely screened, and clinically significant symptoms intervened upon as a part of survivorship care.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Nicole M. Alberts, PhD, email nicole.alberts@concordia.ca.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.36144)
Editor’s ...
AI algorithm for subclinical breast cancer detection
2024-10-03
About The Study: In this retrospective cohort study of women undergoing screening mammography, mean absolute artificial intelligence (AI) scores were higher for breasts developing vs not developing cancer 4 to 6 years before their eventual detection. These findings suggest that commercial AI algorithms developed for breast cancer detection may identify women at high risk of a future breast cancer, offering a pathway for personalized screening approaches that can lead to earlier cancer diagnosis.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Solveig Hofvind, PhD, email sshh@kreftregisteret.no.
To access the embargoed study: ...
Study identifies potential novel drug to treat tuberculosis
2024-10-03
Highlights:
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis (TB), is a threat to public health.
A new study identified that a semi-synthetic compound can be derived from natural compounds and shows potent activity against M. tuberculosis, including multi-drug resistant strains.
This is a promising step toward new potent treatment for TB.
Washington, D.C.—A new study published in the American Society for Microbiology journal Microbiology Spectrum demonstrates that a novel semi-synthetic compound can be derived from ...
UTEP study: Zooplankton go “Eew!” to cleaning feces contaminated water
2024-10-03
EL PASO, Texas (Oct. 3, 2024) – Scientists at The University of Texas at El Paso and Stanford University were recently surprised to find that the natural community of zooplankton — tiny, aquatic animals known to graze on bacteria — present in freshwater and saltwater do not clean water that is contaminated with fecal microorganisms.
The research, published today in the biology journal mSphere, reveals important insights about the limitations of zooplankton in treating bodies of water that have been contaminated with fecal organisms, the team said. A 2017 U.S. water quality inventory ...
FAU awarded $10M to train people with disabilities for in-demand tech jobs
2024-10-03
The rising demand for tech jobs presents an outstanding opportunity for growth and inclusivity in the industry. Developing accessible training programs tailored for individuals with disabilities can foster a more diverse workforce. Florida Atlantic University’s College of Education and the College of Engineering and Computer Science have received a $9,961,460 grant from the United States Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to increase the capacity and participation of transition-age youths and working-age adults with disabilities in high demand technology jobs locally and nationally. ...
Plants have a backup plan
2024-10-03
Tending a garden is hard work. Imagine it from the plants’ perspective. Each relies on fine-tuned genetic processes to pass down accurate copies of chromosomes to future generations. These processes sometimes involve billions of moving parts. Even the tiniest disruption can have a cascading effect. So, for plants like Arabidopsis thaliana, it’s good to have a backup plan.
“Chromosomes have to be accurately partitioned every time a cell divides,” explains Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor and HHMI Investigator Rob Martienssen. “For that to happen, each chromosome has ...
Logic with light
2024-10-03
Increasingly complex applications such as artificial intelligence require ever more powerful and power-hungry computers to run. Optical computing is a proposed solution to increase speed and power efficiency but has yet to be realized due to constraints and drawbacks. A new design architecture, called diffraction casting, seeks to address these shortcomings. It introduces some concepts to the field of optical computing that might make it more appealing for implementation in next-generation computing devices.
Whether ...