IANS
03 Jun 2016, 11:49 GMT+10
New York, June 3 (IANS) Immunising mothers against flu can decrease the risk of their infants getting influenza during the first four months after birth by 70 percent, a study says.
"These results are an important early step toward implementing maternal immunisation against influenza to protect young infants, and the results are impressively positive," said senior author Myron Levine, Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the US.
Immunising pregnant women against the flu is common in the industrialised world, but not in the developing world.
This study, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, shows that such immunisation can work in the developing world too.
The research took place in Bamako, Mali, in West Africa.
The researchers studied 4,193 pregnant women. About half of the participants received a flu vaccine and the other half received a vaccine for meningitis.
The scientists followed the women's infants for six months after birth. In the group whose mothers had been vaccinated against flu, vaccine efficacy was nearly 70 per cent in the first four months after birth.
This fell to 57 per cent by five months, and disappeared by six months.
Vaccine efficacy refers to the percentage of reduction in disease incidence in a vaccinated group compared to an unvaccinated group.
In other words, in the flu vaccine group, in the first four months after birth, there were nearly 70 per cent fewer cases of flu than in the meningitis vaccine group.
The finding could help to significantly reduce flu disease and mortality in poor and developing countries.
Each year, influenza causes between 250,000 and half a million deaths around the world. Pregnant women and young infants have a higher risk of complications related to influenza and these complications can easily lead to death.
The problem is particularly severe in the developing world, where access to health care is often limited, and health centres and hospitals are scarce and under-resourced.
Babies are particularly vulnerable because there is no influenza vaccine approved for infants younger than six months.
--IANS
gb/vmGet a daily dose of Knoxville Times news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Knoxville Times.
More InformationSAN FRANCISCO, California: U.S. food delivery giant DoorDash will acquire British rival Deliveroo in a US$3.85 billion deal, the companies...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks were weaker Friday as investors and traders continued to fret over U.S. President Donald Trump's trade...
SAN FRANCISCO, California: A U.S. lawmaker wants to introduce a new law that would help track where advanced AI computer chips, like...
EAST HARTFORD, Connecticut: Roughly 3,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers began striking...
CHICAGO, Illinois: United Airlines will begin canceling around 35 daily flights—roughly 10 percent of its schedule—from Newark Liberty...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks rose sharply Thursday following the announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump of a new trade deal...
TOKYO, Japan: Emperor Emeritus Akihito, 91, will be hospitalized for heart examinations after doctors detected a potential issue during...
MOSCOW, Russia - Russia came to a standstill on Friday as the nation commemorated its victory over Nazi Germany in the second World...
DHAKA, Bangladesh: Thousands of supporters of the Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam took to the streets of Dhaka to protest proposed legal...
Pope Leo XIV, has spoken publicly for the first time since his election as Pope to succeed Pope Francis who died on Easter Monday....
The EU on Wednesday called on India and Pakistan to take immediate steps' to de-escalate after India fired missiles into Pakistani-administered...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Donald Trump's administration is planning to cut many jobs at the CIA and other U.S. spy agencies, according...