title: The effect of mass influenza immunization in children on the morbidity of the unvaccinated elderly.
abstract: The objectives of these studies were to analyse the effect of mass influenza immunization in children on the morbidity of unvaccinated non-institutionalized elderly during an influenza epidemic. A mass vaccination campaign with vaccine was conducted in children aged 3-6 years attending kindergartens (57.4% of 6374) and aged 7-17 years attending schools (72% of 34237) in two communities of the Moscow region. The clinical effectiveness of vaccination was 60.9% for kindergartens and 68.8% for schools. There were 3.4 times fewer episodes of influenza-like illnesses and 1.7-2.6 fewer episodes in all seven diseases which are possible complications of influenza out of the 10 evaluated diseases in 158451 unvaccinated non-institutionalized elderly people during the influenza epidemic compared with the control communities. The differences were found to be statistically significant. Mass vaccination of children attending child institutions brought about a significant reduction of both influenza-like illnesses in children and influenza-associated illnesses in unvaccinated non-institutionalized elderly persons living in the home setting.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Viral Preparations, Moscow, Russia. misha_vasiliev@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Y Z
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Ghendon
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Kaira
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Elshina
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity; D009031:Moscow / Q000453:epidemiology; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines