ANTI-FLU VACCINE - REVIEW OF THE LITERATU RE

A large number of papers are regularly published about anti-flu vaccin e with discordant results regarding their efficacy. Through a recent r eview the efficacy of the vaccine has been evaluated both in terms of the immune response, the protection against clinical disease, but also as regards the impact from an epidemiological and economic point of v iew. In the majority of papers in which the immune response was studie d before and after vaccination a 60 to 100% case of protection was obt ained serologically by measuring the protective antibodies. These leve ls varied as a function of the type of the vaccination (inactived or l iving) and also of the immune state of the subject. In subjects of mor e than 60 years of age the immune response was 1.5 to 2 times less tha t in the young adult. The protection against clinical disease in child ren and adults is of the order of 40 to 70%, according to whether the infection is confirmed or not. On the other hand the vaccine is less e ffective in the elderly subjects, but gives a protection of the order of 75% protection against complications or of mortality linked to infl uenza. Finally there are a certain number of epidemiological and econo mic arguments which would justify the vaccine use on a large scale.