A study showing that the influenza vaccination of pregnant HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected women is safe and protects the women against confirmed influenza illness, has been published by researchers from Wits University and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

 

The study, listing the finding of the safety and efficacy of vaccination of pregnant women with influenza vaccine, is published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

 

This landmark study, titled “Influenza vaccination of pregnant women and protection of their infants,” is the first randomized-controlled trial (i.e. the highest level of scientific evidence) globally to show that, besides it being safe for the influenza vaccination of pregnant HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected women, it also protects the young infants of vaccinated mothers against influenza illness.

 

The results from the study by Professor Shabir Madhi, professor of vaccinology at Wits University and executive director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, and his team are the first to show that influenza vaccination of pregnant women was associated with 50% protection against influenza illness in HIV-uninfected women and 70% protection in HIV-infected women.

 

The protection of HIV-infected pregnant women, who constitute approximately one-third of all pregnant women in South Africa, was particularly important as they were disproportionately affected by severe illness during the swine flu pandemic of 2009.

 

“In addition to the protection of pregnant women, the study also showed that the infants born to mothers who received the influenza vaccine were also less likely to develop influenza confirmed illness until six months of age. This included 48% fewer episodes of influenza illness in infants born to influenza-vaccinated HIV-uninfected women and a similar trend observed in those born to HIV-infected women,” Madhi said.

 

Date: September 4, 2014

Source: Wits University