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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Vaccines are not on the priority list for most expectant mothers -- but a recent study shows they may want to consider one vaccine to protect both themselves and their babies.
New research shows vaccinating pregnant women for the flu offers significant protection from the virus to both the mothers and their infants. Although the practice of vaccinating pregnant mothers against the flu has been shown to be safe, this study was the first to randomly select subjects and follow them through time.
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After injecting one group of mothers with influenza vaccines and the control group with meningitis vaccine, researchers interviewed the mothers weekly until 24 weeks after birth. The mothers were asked to bring in their infants if they were ill, and the babies were then tested and treated for the flu.
Results show the flu vaccine reduced illness by 63 percent in infants. The vaccine protected them until they were six months old. It also protected many babies and their mothers from respiratory illnesses marked by a fever.
Severe reactions to the vaccine were about the same for both the flu and control groups.
The flu can lead to serious illness and hospitalization in pregnant women and young infants and has been associated with an increased risk of deformities in babies. Although immunization of pregnant mothers for the flu has been recommended in the United States for more than a decade, few mothers get the vaccine.
SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine, 2008;359:1555-1564
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