CDC: Certain job groups had increased ILI rates during 2009 pandemic
A survey by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that workers in real estate, food services, and social services had higher rates of influenza-like illness (ILI) than other occupational groups during the 2009-10 flu season, when the pandemic 2009 H1N1 (pH1N1) virus was circulating widely.
The findings come from the 2009 National H1N1 Flu Survey, a telephone survey conducted from October 2009 through June 2010, according to an article in the Mar 14 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
In a representative sample of 28,710 employed adults, 5.5% reported ILI symptoms in the month before the survey interview, and 23.7% had received the pH1N1 vaccine, the report says.
Among employed adults, ILI was most prevalent in those employed in the industry groups "Real estate and rental and leasing" (10.5%) and "Accommodation and food services" (10.2%), the CDC said. By occupational groups, prevalence was highest in "Food preparation and serving related" (11.0%) and "Community and social services" (8.3%).
"Both seasonal influenza and pH1N1 vaccination coverage were relatively low in all of these groups of workers," the report adds.
The CDC also found that ILI prevalence was similar in employed persons and those not in the labor force (retired or not looking for work), at 5.5% and 6.0%, respectively. These two groups also had similar pH1N1 vaccination coverage (23.7% and 26.5%). "In contrast, ILI prevalence was higher (9.4%) and pH1N1 vaccination coverage was lower (16.7%) among unemployed adults in the labor force," the article says.
"Relatively high prevalence rates of ILI among workers who likely have high exposure to the public and among unemployed adults during the 2009-10 influenza season suggest that these groups might be at increased risk for infection during a pandemic," the authors state.
Mar 14 MMWR article
Pfizer reports good results for Prevnar 13 in elderly
Pfizer Inc of New York City said yesterday that its Prevnar 13 pneumococcal vaccine significantly reduced the risk of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by any of the 13 strains covered in the vaccine, according to a trial of 85,000 elderly patients.
The company presented results from its Community-Acquired Pneumonia Immunization Trial in Adults (CAPiTA), which involved adults 65 and older, yesterday at the ninth International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases in Hyderabad, India.
Those who received Prevnar 13 had 46% fewer first episodes of vaccine-type CAP (P = 0.0006) compared with those who received a placebo, which met the trial's primary objective, the company said in a news release. In addition, vaccinated volunteers had 45% fewer first episodes of non-bacteremic, non-invasive vaccine-type CAP (P = 0.0067) and 75% fewer first episodes of vaccine-type invasive pneumococcal disease such as bloodstream infections (P = 0.0005) compared with the placebo group. Reductions in those illnesses were secondary objectives of the study.
Patients had reductions in those three categories of pneumococcal disease for up to 4 years after vaccination, Pfizer said.
"This study demonstrated that vaccination with Prevnar 13 can prevent a significant portion of pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia in adults aged 65 and older, which is an important global public health goal," said principal investigator Marc Bonten, MD, PhD, of the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands.
Mar 12 Pfizer news release
