In-Flu-End-za?
We're seeing a lot of flu "A" in my emergency department. The local university, my grad-school alma mater notes that despite the having the greatest number of students vaccinated this flu season, they also have the greatest number of students on campus who have been diagnosed with flu. So what happened? Vaccine mismatch - that's what.
Each year in February experts meet under the authority of the Food and Drug Administration to decide what flu strains will be included in the vaccine for the following flu season. They try to predict which virus strains will be the most likely to spread in the following year.
Flu season begins in the Far East and this data is used to help predict what will strike the US, but like all medicine, this prediction is partly scince and partly art (a guess based on knowledge). Most years the prediction is fairly accurate, but this year the experts and the manufacturers didn't so so well. Last winter they recommended a certain strain of flu "A" be included in this year's vaccine, but the manufacturers weren't able to find samples that would grow properly in the production process.
Unfortunately for those of us out here on the front lines, this missing strain of flu "A" is the most prevalent one we're seeng this year, accounting for about 60% of all the cases of flu, and next year's production may not be any better. For the first time ever the expert panel has recommended a complete change of next year's vaccine. Each year the vaccine is "travalent," meaning that it is made up of the three currently most common strains of flu; manufacturers have been asked to completely overhaul next year's vaccine, which may make production difficult. It may help that two of the three newly recommended strains were included in the 2007 vaccine for the Southern hemisphere, making it possible that manufacturers will have a bit of a "jump start" on the new production plans.
Let's hope they're right! This year's vaccine is about 85% effective at preventing illness in young, healthly individuals, despite my alma mater's experience. Unfortunately college students aren't really my biggest concern; it's the elderly, the very young, and the chronically compromised that I have to worry about, and this year the vaccine has let them down. Let's hope we get it right in 2008-09.
Wash your hands and stay well! Laurie
Related Topics:
Technorati Tags: flu, vaccine, influenza A
Each year in February experts meet under the authority of the Food and Drug Administration to decide what flu strains will be included in the vaccine for the following flu season. They try to predict which virus strains will be the most likely to spread in the following year.
Flu season begins in the Far East and this data is used to help predict what will strike the US, but like all medicine, this prediction is partly scince and partly art (a guess based on knowledge). Most years the prediction is fairly accurate, but this year the experts and the manufacturers didn't so so well. Last winter they recommended a certain strain of flu "A" be included in this year's vaccine, but the manufacturers weren't able to find samples that would grow properly in the production process.
Unfortunately for those of us out here on the front lines, this missing strain of flu "A" is the most prevalent one we're seeng this year, accounting for about 60% of all the cases of flu, and next year's production may not be any better. For the first time ever the expert panel has recommended a complete change of next year's vaccine. Each year the vaccine is "travalent," meaning that it is made up of the three currently most common strains of flu; manufacturers have been asked to completely overhaul next year's vaccine, which may make production difficult. It may help that two of the three newly recommended strains were included in the 2007 vaccine for the Southern hemisphere, making it possible that manufacturers will have a bit of a "jump start" on the new production plans.
Let's hope they're right! This year's vaccine is about 85% effective at preventing illness in young, healthly individuals, despite my alma mater's experience. Unfortunately college students aren't really my biggest concern; it's the elderly, the very young, and the chronically compromised that I have to worry about, and this year the vaccine has let them down. Let's hope we get it right in 2008-09.
Wash your hands and stay well! Laurie
Related Topics:
Technorati Tags: flu, vaccine, influenza A
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