|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Flu News for Senior Citizens
Higher Dose of Flu Vaccine Improves Immune Response
in the Elderly
Senior citizens with double dose had up to 79%
more antibody
May 22, 2006 - There may be a simple way to provide
elderly Americans with extra protection against the annual flu virus:
give them a higher dose of seasonal flu vaccine. This idea is suggested
by the results of a newly reported clinical trial supported by the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a
component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
| |
Related Stories |
|
| |
'Holy Grail' of Flu Vaccines Successful in St. Jude
Test
Vaccine protected animals from bird and human
influenza virus
 May 2, 2006 Senior citizens, considered among the
most vulnerable should a bird flu pandemic erupt, may find hope in
research at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital that has discovered
that a new
vaccine protects mice and ferrets from a highly lethal avian influenza
virus. Read more...
Relenza Inhaler Approved for Prevention of A and B
Flu; Stockpiled for Pandemic
Second drug option
for Americans to prevent and treat flu
March 31, 2006 Although not a substitute for the
flu vaccine, Relenza, an inhaler administered drug, has been approved
for prevention of influenza A and B virus infections in adults and
children. In one of the clinical trials used for the approval, which
consisted primarily of senior citizens, the percent that developed
symptoms confirmed to be flu were reduced from 1.4% of those on placebo
to 0.2% for those who used Relenza. It is being stockpiled by the U.S.
for use in a possible bird flu pandemic.
Read more...
Bird Flu Vaccine Supply Shrinks with News It Takes
Double Dose to Work
Even then it only
worked in half the participants - no seniors included
March 30, 2006 The U.S. supply of vaccine to
prevent bird flu (H5N1) just got cut at least in half by the report of a
clinical trial that found it took two doses to achieve immunity, and
that was only in about half the patients. This trial, incidentally,
included no senior citizens people over age 64 who are considered
most in danger should an avian flu pandemic strike.
Read more...
Marketing Program Could Boost Elderly Flu
Vaccinations, Save Lives
10-year federal flu vaccination program could save
more than 6,500 lives
By Krista Hopson
March 24, 2006 - To increase influenza vaccinations
rates among the elderly those ages 65 and over who are at high risk
for influenza-related mortality the federal government could consider
borrowing a page from the pharmaceutical companies' prescription drug
advertising campaigns. Read
more...
Read more
on
FLU 2005-06 |
|
The trial, described in the latest issue of the
Archives of Internal Medicine, was conducted by a team of researchers
from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, and sanofi pasteur, the
vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group in Paris. Led by Dr. Wendy
Keitel, M.D., the team conducted the trial at the Baylor Vaccine and
Treatment Evaluation Unit, which is one of a network of NIAID-supported
sites at university research hospitals across the United States that
conduct Phase I and II clinical trials to test and evaluate candidate
vaccines for infectious diseases.
NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., notes, The
study results reported by Dr. Keitel and her colleagues are important
because they suggest that a higher dose of seasonal influenza vaccine
can safely and significantly increase the immune responses of older
people.
Elderly Americans are among the most vulnerable to
serious complications of influenza because they generally have more
underlying diseases and weaker immune systems than younger people, says
NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. These findings are an important
first step in developing new strategies to better protect the elderly
against influenza-associated hospitalizations and mortality.
If you look at people who are dying and going into
the hospital during an outbreak of seasonal influenza, says Dr. Keitel,
the majority of those people are older individuals.
Influenza accounts for some 36,000 deaths and more
than 200,000 hospitalizations every year in the United States. It is
among Americas most lethal killers simply because the virus infects so
many people some 5 to 20 percent of the U.S. population every year.
In other influenza vaccine studies, higher antibody
levels resulted in better protection against infection. Conversely,
decreased antibody production in the elderly can leave them more
susceptible to infection and the severe complications of influenza.
Helping elderly people increase antibody production
should help them fight off influenza infections, and this is exactly
what Dr. Keitel and her colleagues set out to test when they began the
clinical trial. They hypothesized that elderly people could be given
higher doses of vaccine safely and that these higher doses would
increase the antibody response and confer increased protection without
increasing side effects.
In the study, the investigators randomly assigned
202 adults 65 years of age or older into four equal-sized groups: those
receiving the normal dose of vaccine (15 micrograms); twice the normal
dose (30 micrograms); four times the normal dose (60 micrograms); or a
placebo. The average age of the volunteers was 72.4 years. All study
participants were followed for a month post-vaccination to look for any
vaccine-related side effects and to collect blood to evaluate antibody
responses.
Dr. Keitel and her colleagues found that
participants in the high-dose group (60 micrograms) had 44 to 79 percent
higher levels of antibody than did those who received the normal dose of
vaccine. Higher doses also increased the number of elderly volunteers
achieving levels of antibody that have been associated with protection
against influenza. Moreover, the vaccine was well-tolerated at all
dosage levels. Although the higher doses of vaccine caused more mild
side effects at the injection site, there were no significant
differences in systemic symptoms such as fever or body aches among the
groups.
The successful achievement of higher levels of
antibodies in this study suggests that larger doses of vaccine may be a
safe and viable way of enhancing protection against influenza among
elderly persons. These promising results provide a basis for further
evaluation of enhanced potency vaccines in the elderly, says Dr. Keitel.
For more information on influenza see
-
http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/focuson/flu. Also visit
http://www.PandemicFlu.gov for one-stop access to U.S. Government
information on avian and pandemic flu. Or visit the SeniorJournal.com
Spotlight on Flu -
FLU 2005-06
NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of
Health, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat
infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted
infections, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and illness from potential
agents of bioterrorism. NIAID also supports research on transplantation
and immune-related illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, asthma and
allergies.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) The
Nation's Medical Research Agency includes 27 Institutes and Centers
and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic,
clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the
causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For
more information about NIH and its programs, visit
www.nih.gov.
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
