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Since its emergence in 1968, influenza A H3N2 has caused yearly epidemics in temperate regions. While infection confers immunity against antigenically similar strains, new antigenically distinct strains that evade existing immunity regularly emerge ('antigenic drift'). Immunity at the individual level is complex, depending on an individual's lifetime infection history.
Annual estimates of seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness can guide global risk communication and vaccination strategies to mitigate influenza-associated illness. We aimed to evaluate vaccine effectiveness in countries using the 2023 southern hemisphere influenza vaccine formulation.
Estimating the temporal trends in infectious disease activity is crucial for monitoring disease spread and the impact of interventions. Surveillance indicators routinely collected to monitor these trends are often a composite of multiple pathogens. For example, "influenza-like illness"-routinely monitored as a proxy for influenza infections-is a symptom definition that could be caused by a wide range of pathogens, including multiple subtypes of influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV.
Current immunization guidelines recommend one dose of influenza vaccine for children aged ≥9 years and two doses for younger or vaccine-naïve children. However, children receiving chemotherapy have an attenuated immune response. We performed a prospective open-label study in children undergoing treatment for cancer at Perth Children's Hospital, Western Australia, to examine the safety and efficacy of a boosted influenza schedule.
Pregnant women are recognised as being at risk of serious illness from influenza. Despite this, and longstanding national recommendations for vaccination in pregnancy, vaccine uptake remains suboptimal. This study aims to determine factors associated with women declining influenza vaccination in pregnancy.
Healthcare personnel (HCP) are a priority group for annual influenza vaccination. Few studies have assessed the validity of recall of prior influenza vaccination status among HCP, especially for more than one preceding season.
This report summarises the epidemiology of hospitalisations with laboratory-confirmed influenza during the 2019 influenza season. The Influenza Complications Alert Network (FluCAN) is a sentinel hospital-based surveillance program that operates at sites in all jurisdictions in Australia.
Influenza immunisation is a highly cost-effective public health intervention. Despite a comprehensive National Immunisation Program, influenza vaccination in children and adolescents with special risk medical conditions (SRMCs) is suboptimal. Flutext-4U is an innovative, multi-component strategy targeting paediatric hospitals, general practice and parents of children and adolescents with SRMC.
Influenza vaccination is recommended to protect mothers and their infants from influenza infection. Few studies have evaluated the health impacts of in utero exposure to influenza vaccine among children more than six months of age.
Many countries recommend influenza vaccination during pregnancy. Despite this recommendation, influenza vaccine among pregnant individuals remains under-utilized and uptake varies by country. Factors associated with influenza vaccine uptake during pregnancy may also vary across countries.