High dose influenza vaccine helps protect elderly

Washington, Oct 27 : A high dose of influenza vaccine helps protect the elderly better than the standard vaccine, say researchers.

Researchers at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in New York found that a high dose of potential drug candidate under trail increased immune responses among adults 65 years of age and older, compared with the standard influenza vaccine.

The candidate high-dose intramuscular formulation of the influenza vaccine is being developed by sanofi pasteur.

Older adults become not only more susceptible to infections, but also less responsive to vaccination.

"Development of an influenza vaccine that will provide an improved immune response in older adults is important because this population has the highest rates of complications from influenza including hospitalization and death," said Dr Ann R. Falsey, Associate Professor of Medicine.

According to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the currently available inactivated influenza vaccine offers public health benefits in reducing influenza-related morbidity and mortality in older adults.

During the study, the 4000 people 65 years of age and older compared the high-dose influenza vaccine with the standard inactivated influenza vaccine formulated for the 2006-2007 season.

They found that that the new high-dose vaccine increased the immune responses to all three influenza strains compared with standard vaccine.

The results were reported at the 48th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC)/Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) 46th annual meeting.

ANI