Did 'Regular' Flu Shot Up Risks for H1N1 Flu?

Those who got seasonal vaccine were at higher risk, study found

TUESDAY, April 6 (HealthDay News) The traditional seasonal flu vaccine may have increased the risk of infection with pandemic H1N1 swine flu, according to the results of four new studies by Canadian researchers.

In one study, the researchers used an ongoing sentinel monitoring system to assess the frequency of prior vaccination with the seasonal flu vaccine in people diagnosed with H1N1 swine flu in 2009 compared to people without swine flu. The researchers found that seasonal flu vaccination was associated with a 68 percent increased risk of getting swine flu.

The other three studies included additional case-control investigations in Ontario and Quebec, as well as a transmission study in 47 Quebec households that were hit with swine flu. In these studies, the researchers found that seasonal flu vaccination was associated with a 1.4- to 5.0-times greater risk of having swine flu.

The studies, published April 6 in the online journal PLoS Medicine, don't show whether there is a true cause-and-effect relationship between seasonal flu vaccination and subsequent swine flu illness, or whether the association was possibly due to a common factor among the people in the study, said principal investigator Danuta Skowronski, of the British Columbia Center for Disease Control in Vancouver, and colleagues.

However, the findings may raise questions about the biological interactions between pre-existing and new pandemic influenza strains.

The researchers noted that the World Health Organization has recommended that protection against pandemic swine flu be included in future seasonal flu vaccines. This will provide direct protection against pandemic swine flu and eliminate any risk that may have been due to the 2009 seasonal vaccine, which did not include protection against swine flu.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about the H1N1 flu.

The four new studies conducted by Canadian researchers conclude that the traditional seasonal flu vaccine seems to have boosted the risk of infection with pandemic H1N1 swine flu by almost double.

In one study, the researchers revealed to use ongoing sentinel monitoring system in order to assess the frequency of prior vaccination with the seasonal flu vaccine in people suffering from H1N1 swine flu in 2009 compared to people without swine flu.

The study discovered that seasonal flu vaccination was linked with a 68 percent boosted risk of falling in prey to swine flu.

"I do think that they did the best they could with the data they had", said Dr. Mark Loeb, an infectious diseases expert at McMaster University in Hamilton who was not part of the study and who seems to be sceptical about the study’s conclusion.

The studies, published April 6 in the online journal PLoS Medicine, attributed to the combined of over 40 researchers including many of Canada's top influenza experts. The data is reported to be fetched from four studies that draw cases from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

However, the studies failed to show the presence of a true cause-and-effect link between seasonal flu vaccination and subsequent swine flu illness, or it is due to presence of a common factor among the people in the study.

what about a false sense of security

Perhaps it would be of value to educate the general public about the value of Vitamin D3 as part of an overall plan of facilitating wellness and prevention. In addition, it is important to make it clear that, although the flu vaccine is intended to protect against certain identified deadly strains of influenza, there are many other strains of flu that are not covered by the vaccine (some identified, others not). Are we giving recipients of these vaccines (general flu and H1N1) a false sense of security by not educating them regarding the many other factors that contribute to contracting the flu (i.e. the effect of high sugar intake and lack of sleep on the immune system)? Further, we need to encourage people to practice effective hand washing habits and research the value of Vitamin D3 and Vitamin C supplementation - of course, in consultation with their primary health care providers for applicable guidelines.

Flu Vaccines

1. The majority of people did not need to take the seasonal flu vaccine, yet they do. All drugs, vaccines, etc., have an impact on the body (liver, etc) and science is not all knowing as regards the full impact of most interventions. The health care is an industry not a not for profit good will group. As long as pharmas pay doctors and influence studies, as long as doctors accept payments and are incentivized financially to provide more expensive (and usually extensive and unneeded) services, then there just only so much trust one can have in anything that we read. Period. P.s. journalists are incentivized to scare us so they can sell stuff too.

2. The fact that there is a possible interaction between the two vaccines shows the point that you should avoid all drugs unless absolutely necessary. Motivation (profit) and ignorance (insuffucient data) lead to problems all the time. I recall a study in Sweden? where smoking and non-smoking subjects were taking beta carotene supplements. The smoking patients started dying so they had to stop the study. My point is, doctors and pharmas know less than they think - just look at the changes in recommendations from butter to hydrogenated fats, etc. It goes on and on and it always will!!!