As the Southern Hemisphere's flu season winds down, disease levels in temperate South American and southern Africa countries decreased or have peaked in recent weeks, according to the latest global flu update from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The experts also called for 3 new pandemic candidate vaccine viruses.
Flu vaccine uptake in UK seniors has been high in recent flu seasons, but vaccine effectiveness (VE) has been modest in this age-group and the vaccine has been ineffective against the most severe strain, according to a study today in Eurosurveillance.
Coverage in kids 4 and younger was 67.8% last season, down 2.2 percentage points.
Saudi Arabia yesterday reported three more MERS-CoV cases, including two from different cities who contracted the virus from a sick household contact.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said today it is helping UK officials respond to their two recent monkeypox cases, which involve travelers from Nigeria, a country that has now reported 262 suspected cases.
The risk of getting the flu climbs about 16% every 28 days after vaccination.
Tests on 10 people on a flight from Dubai to New York City who were hospitalized afterward showed no illnesses except for flu and common cold viruses, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC Health) announced today, adding that it expects all 10 people to be released soon.
Both AAP and the CDC, though, support using FluMist with the goal of optimizing vaccine coverage.
ACIP suggests vaccination by the end of October—but the start date is less clear.
