34th European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases annual meeting

Abstract

www.thelancet.com/respiratory Vol 4 July 2016 537 Infl uenza vaccination of liveattenuated virus in children with cystic fi brosis Patients with cystic fi brosis (CF) are predisposed to respiratory infections, particularly influenza, which carries substantial morbidity and increased bacterial colonisation compared with influenza-infected patients with other forms of chronic disease. The diffi culty with treatment of this group of patients is that current recommendations for influenza vaccination vary, and data for the use of intranasal live-attenuated infl uenza vaccine (LAIV) are limited. To address this issue, Sabine Renner and colleagues from the University of Vienna, Austria, did an observational study of LAIV across two influenza seasons in patients aged 2–18 years who had not previously received infl uenza vaccination. Adverse events and incidence of infl uenza-like illness were evaluated retrospectively through telephone interviews. None of the 43 vaccinated children contracted influenza during the 2013–14 season. In the 2014–15 season, four of 94 vaccinated children displayed evidence of influenzalike symptoms; illness was mild and did not require hospital admission. By contrast, four cases of severe infl uenza-like illness occurred in the eight unvaccinated children, two of whom required hospital admission in the 2014–15 infl uenza season. The spectrum of bacterial colonisation did not change before and after infl uenza vaccination. These results suggest a protective eff ect of LAIV vaccination against influenza and influenzarelated outcomes, and no serious adverse events were observed. The recommendation from this group of investigators is to use LAIV in patients with CF older than 2 years.