Illness and Diseases

Penicillium marneffei is emerging as an important opportunistic pathogen among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected and immunocompromised residents of (and travelers to) Southeast Asia, Northeastern India, and Southern China. No definitive mode of acquisition has been found, but inhalation has been implicated. The infection has been described in both immunocompromised (>80%) and immunocompetent individuals. Immunocompromised individuals […]

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RT‐PCR.Total nucleic acid was extracted from specimens by using the NucliSens easyMAG extraction system (bioMérieux) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Twelve microliters of extracted nucleic acid was used to prepare complementary DNA (cDNA) by using an Invitrogen Superscript III kit (Invitrogen) with random primer, as described elsewhere. For detection of influenza A virus, 2 μL […]

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Our results mirror those from an earlier trial conducted in the United Kingdom, which found that children who received influenza A vaccine had a lower risk of A/England infection in 1972 but later appeared to lack cross‐protection against A/Port Chalmers in 1974, compared with other children who had received influenza B vaccine. Similarly, in the […]

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We did not identify any statistically significant differences in attack rates of seasonal and pandemic influenza infection or clinical influenza among the household contacts of children who received TIV or placebo, although our study had limited power to detect such differences. Results were similar when stratified by winter and summer seasons. Of 91 children and […]

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Invitation letters were sent to a convenience sample of 20 primary and 5 secondary schools. In 3 schools that agreed to participate, letters were distributed to the parents of 2190 children, and 54 households were enrolled. Fifteen hundred invitations were sent to households of children who are members of a local birth cohort, and 51 […]

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Randomization. Randomization lists were prepared by a biostatistician (B.J.C.). Eligible study participants were randomly allocated to the TIV group or placebo group in the ratio 3:2 using a random number generator (R software). A block‐randomization sequence was generated with randomly permuted block sizes of 5, 10, and 15. More households were allocated to the TIV […]

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Serum specimens were collected from study subjects at baseline immediately before vaccination (November–December 2008), 1 month after vaccination, after the winter influenza season (“mid‐season”; April 2009) and at the end of the follow‐up period (August–October 2009). Serum specimens were also collected from all household contacts at baseline, at mid‐season, and post‐season. All subjects and household […]

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Trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) is effective in preventing infection and illness associated with influenza A and B viruses in children during seasons when the vaccine components closely match circulating strains. On the basis of evidence from ecological studies, intervention trials, and simulation models, some health authorities have recommended vaccination of school‐age children against seasonal […]

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Canadian investigators published the results of 4 observational studies in April 2010 that purported to show an association between the 2008 TIV and nH1N1 illness. The 4 studies were a test‐negative case‐control study based on the Canadian sentinel vaccine effectiveness monitoring system in 4 provinces, a conventional case‐control design in Quebec that used population control […]

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A novel influenza A(H1N1) virus appeared in Mexico in March 2009. The prototype strain, A/California/09/2009(H1N1), was identified in April 2009, and the virus was found to have surface antigens that are distinct from those of the circulating seasonal influenza A(H1N1) virus. An early survey of antibody prevalence suggested that many persons 60 years of age […]

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