Connecticut children had lower rates of serious flu illness after shots were mandated in licensed centers.
A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel today made its recommendation on strains to include for the next flu season vaccine. The move is part of a process that the Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) conducts to review the most current flu strains, surveillance, and updates on vaccine performance, uptake, and manufacturing.
CDC advisory panel defers action on recommending the nasal-spray flu vaccine in children.
The CDC says this year's vaccine yields 61% protection and that working-age adults have been hit hard by the flu.
The WHO recommends keeping the same strains for the Northern Hemisphere's 2014-15 flu season.
Data from seven European countries suggests that last season's influenza vaccine yielded about 42% to 50% protection, depending on the flu type, according to a recent report in Eurosurveillance.
Spanish researchers estimate this season's flu vaccine is only 24% effective so far, much lower than a Canadian estimate last week.
Individuals in the San Francisco Bay area are being told to stay alert for symptoms of measles after an infected and contagious student at the University of California, Berkeley, attended classes and used public transportation before his diagnosis last week, according to news sources.
Health officials in China's Jiangxi province today reported their third recent human case of H10N8 avian flu, which proved fatal, according to a provincial statement in Chinese translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
The patient, a 75-year-old man from the capital city of Nanchang, got sick on Feb 4 and was hospitalized with severe pneumonia. He died on Feb 8.
Researchers estimate that this year's flu vaccine may reduce the risk of H1N1 infection by more than 70%.
