Does seasonal influenza vaccination increase the risk of illness with the 2009 A/H1N1 pandemic virus?

Issue title: Special Issue: Vaccines

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Viboud, Cécile | Simonsen, Lone^;

Affiliations: Division of Epidemiology and Population Studies, Fogarty International Center, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA | Department of Global Health, School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

Note: [] Address for correspondence: Cécile Viboud, Division of Epidemiology and Population Studies, Fogarty International Center, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA. Tel.: +1 301 496 2146; Fax: +1 301 496 8496; E-mail: viboudc@mail.nih.gov

Abstract: This Perspective discusses the following study published in PLoS Medicine: Skowronski DM, De Serres G, Crocroft N, Janjua NZ, Boulianne N, et al. (2010) Association between the 2008–09 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine and Pandemic H1N1 Illness during Spring–Summer 2009 : Four Observational Studies from Canada. PLoS Med 7(4): e1000258. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000258. In three case-control studies and a household transmission cohort, Danuta Skowronski and colleagues find an association between prior seasonal flu vaccination and increased risk of 2009 pandemic H1N1 flu.

Keywords: Influenza, 2009 A/H1N1 pandemic, vaccination, prior immunity, morbidity, mortality

DOI: 10.3233/JRS-2011-0528

Journal: International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 97-102, 2011