• Repeated seasonal influenza vaccines als

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Thu Feb 3 21:30:40 2022
    Repeated seasonal influenza vaccines also provide kids better protection against future flu pandemics, researchers find

    Date:
    February 3, 2022
    Source:
    McMaster University
    Summary:
    Researchers have found that children who receive years of
    season-specific flu vaccines develop antibodies that also provide
    broader protection against new strains, including those capable
    of causing pandemics.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers at McMaster University have found that children who receive
    years of season-specific flu vaccines develop antibodies that also
    provide broader protection against new strains, including those capable
    of causing pandemics.


    ==========================================================================
    The same ability does not exist in adults.

    The findings, reported today in the journal Cell Reports Medicine, could
    inform the design of a universal influenza virus vaccine for children,
    who are especially vulnerable to serious complications from flu, such
    as pneumonia, dehydration and, in rare cases, death.

    "Little is known about how seasonal flu vaccination impacts the immune responses in children, who are a major source of flu transmission and
    a very high-risk group," explains Matthew Miller, lead author of the
    study and Associate Professor at the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Diseases Research. "Understanding how seasonal vaccination and different vaccine formulations shape childhood immunity is critical for effective prevention." Children and adults are fundamentally different
    in their immune responses to influenza virus, explains Miller, whose
    lab is part of McMaster's Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological
    Threats. Unlike small children, most adults have been infected with and vaccinated against flu many times throughout their lives.

    "When we give adults vaccines, they make a very specific immune response against seasonal strains," says Miller. "Adults simply don't generate
    immune responses to seasonal flu vaccines capable of protecting them from pandemic viruses like children can." The researchers spent three years studying immune responses in children between the ages of 6 months and
    17 years. They found that as the children grew older, they became less
    capable of producing broadly protective antibodies, because of their
    repeated exposure to influenza, through infection or vaccination.

    While COVID-19 related measures such as distancing and masking have also resulted in lower rates of influenza, Miller warns the flu will return, possibly in dangerous forms.

    Influenza has caused five pandemics in the last 100 years. The Spanish
    Flu of 1918-19 killed roughly 50 million people worldwide at a time when
    the global population was about 1.8 billion -- less than a quarter what
    it is today.

    For the study, researchers also compared two forms of vaccine: the
    conventional flu shot and a nasal spray vaccine that works in the upper respiratory tract, where infection first takes hold.

    Both worked equally well at generating broadly protective antibodies,
    which is welcome news for parents seeking a painless alternative to
    needles.

    "This is an important finding because it means we have flexibility in
    terms of the type of vaccines we can use to make a universal vaccine
    for children. We now know that children's immune systems are much more
    flexible than adults' when it comes to being able to teach them how to
    make these broadly protective responses," says Miller.

    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by McMaster_University. Note: Content
    may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Sergey Yegorov, Daniel B. Celeste, Kimberly Braz Gomes, Jann C. Ang,
    Colin Vandenhof, Joanne Wang, Ksenia Rybkina, Vanessa Tsui,
    Hannah D.

    Stacey, Mark Loeb, Matthew S. Miller. Inactivated and
    live-attenuated seasonal influenza vaccines boost broadly
    neutralizing antibodies in children. Cell Reports Medicine, 2022;
    100509 DOI: 10.1016/ j.xcrm.2022.100509 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220203122905.htm

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