Flu jabs help HIV moms and their babies

Lead author Dr Marie Pedersen said: 'Stillbirth is one of the most neglected tragedies in global health today.'

Lead author Dr Marie Pedersen said: 'Stillbirth is one of the most neglected tragedies in global health today.'

Published Sep 4, 2014

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Johannesburg - In a study, local researchers have proved that influenza vaccination of pregnant HIV-infected and uninfected women protects women and their unborn babies against the illness.

In the first randomised controlled trial of its kind globally, researchers from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and Wits University are the first to show that influenza vaccination of pregnant women was associated with 50 percent protection against influenza illness in HIV-uninfected women and 70 percent protection in HIV-infected women.

The research team led by Professor Shabir Madhi – professor of vaccinology at Wits and executive director at the NICD – conducted two double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trials of the influenza vaccine at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto.

The study has been published in Thursday’s issue of the weekly prestigious medical journal, The New England Journal of Medicine.

The trials were first conducted in 2011 on pregnant women infected with HIV, and during 2011 and 2012 in pregnant women not infected with HIV.

The infants were tested on the immunogenicity, safety and efficacy of the vaccine up to 24 weeks after their birth.

The study cohorts included 2 116 pregnant women who weren’t infected with HIV and 194 pregnant women who were infected.

The cohorts had to be between 18 and 38 and between 20 and 36 weeks pregnant.

“The protection of HIV-infected pregnant women, who constitute 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,” the NICD said in a statement.

In addition to the protection of pregnant women, the study also showed that infants born to mothers who received the flu vaccine were also less likely to develop influenza-confirmed illness until six months of age, the NICD said.

“This included 48 percent fewer episodes of influenza illness in infants born to influenza-vaccinated HIV-uninfected women and a similar trend in those born to HIV-infected women.”

Madhi said: “Unfortunately in South Africa, the uptake of the influenza vaccine has been very low – at 1 percent.

“Since 2009, there’s been a drive to get more women vaccinated.”

The World Health Organisation last year made a recommendation to prioritise the vaccination of pregnant women against influenza.

“However, the recommendation didn’t have strong evidence to back up that women would be protected.”

Madhi said the finding that the vaccine had a more protective effect on HIV-infected women was a surprise to the researchers and was also a prize find.

“Another important aspect is the protection of infants younger than six months old, because there is no vaccine available for infants under six months, yet we know their risk of hospitalisation is 35-fold higher compared to adults,” he added.

Globally, each year, influenza illness is estimated to cause up to 196 000 deaths in children under 5, with a large proportion of these deaths likely occurring in the first six months of life.

“We hope the data will give the national Department of Health the necessary information to procure more vaccines for pregnant mothers and will start a drive for a vaccination campaign for pregnant mothers,” Madhi said.

[email protected]

The Star

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