Most Kids Who Died of Flu Weren’t Vaccinated, Study Finds

Notwithstanding the seasons where flu efficacy is poor, this is still a good default argument for treating at-risk kids. Dr. Susarla

Most children who have died of flu in recent years were not vaccinated against the virus, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers reported Monday. 

They found that at least three-quarters of kids who died from influenza between 2010 and 2014 had not been vaccinated in the months before they got sick.

And while kids with asthma, developmental disorders and other conditions are at especially high risk, fully half the kids who died were considered healthy before they became infected, the researchers found.

Article linked here.

Asthma or Pneumonia?

Perhaps an association between both, according to a recent study investigating the role of a bacteria commonly associated with "walking pneumonia" in children. Dr. Susarla

M. pneumoniae IgM higher in children with asthma

Mycoplasma pneumoniae may play a key role in pediatric asthma, according to study data published online.

 Tamar A. Smith-Norowitz, PhD, of the department of pediatrics and the Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, N.Y., and colleagues published data on specific anti-M. pneumoniae immunoglobulin M, IgG and IgE antibody responses in 23 patients with asthma and 13 control patients.

All patients were aged younger than 20 years, had a physician’s diagnosis of asthma or current clinically defined persistent asthma symptoms, or both, along with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis with elevated serum IgE levels (>100 IU/mL). Patients were recruited from the Pediatric Asthma Clinic at Kings County Hospital Center, and outpatient pediatric offices in Brooklyn.

The researchers said, “Asthmatic subjects had higher levels of specific IgM [anti-M. pneumoniae antibodies] levels compared with non-asthmatics. In addition, IgM positivity was significantly higher in asthmatic compared with non-asthmatic subjects.”

M. pneumoniae may be more common or persistent in children with asthma than other populations, they said. However, further data are needed because the sample size of this study was small.

“Atypical respiratory infection such as M. pneumoniae continues to be a significant concern in children with asthma. More research is needed to identify high risk groups and develop intervention strategies directed at children with asthma,” Smith-Norowitz told Infectious Diseases in Children.

Although the researchers assessed respiratory tract infection incidence, they said it was only assessed by patient recall, which could have limited the results.

Read article here.

Pneumonia DNA Morphs To Dodge Vaccines

By SINDYA N. BHANOO
Published: January 28, 2011

Researchers from seven countries have collaborated to analyze how a single strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria has morphed over 30 years and spread across the world, in an attempt to overcome the development of antibiotics and vaccines.

The research is the first detailed genetic picture of the evolution of a specific strain of pneumonia, resulting in a family tree of sorts. The researchers analyzed samples from North and South America, Africa and Southeast Asia.

Over time, the bacteria mutated to better resist antibiotics and vaccines. The researchers found that it underwent both recombination, in which the DNA shuffles around, and base substitutions, in which individual nucleic acids in a DNA sequence change.

Read the rest of the article here.