Day +1178 : What? Flu shot increases H1N1 risk?

I am fine today.

I had my flu shot on 18 June, 2009 as written on my blog Day +1079 : Chest CT Scan and Influenza Vaccination. The intention of this was clear; to prevent me from getting seasonal flu.

I understood that the vaccination will not protect me from H1N1 at all and this is fine with me. But what startled me was an article on Malaysiakini yesterday that said that researchers found out that the flu shot increases H1N1 risk. That means I am now having a higher risk of being infected by H1N1, just because I went for flu shot :-(

As the research is still in the very early stage, I hope that the finding is not true. And I believe not only me, there are many who had flu shot will have the same wish as me :-)

The article:

Preliminary results from some studies have found that the seasonal flu shot may increase the risk of catching A/H1N1 flu, Canadian scientists have said.

About 2,000 people from four Canadian provinces were involved in the separate studies, which showed that people who had received the seasonal flu vaccine in the past were more likely to get sick with the H1N1 virus, China's Xinhua news agency reported yesterday, citing the scientists as saying.

Researchers know that, theoretically, when people are exposed to bacteria or a virus, it can stimulate the immune system to create antibodies that facilitate the entry of another strain of the virus.

Dengue fever is one example, scientists say.

But experts stressed that these are very preliminary results and need to be validated.

Data can help policy makers

"This is some evidence that has been floated; it hasn't been validated yet, it's very preliminary," cautioned Dr. Don Low, microbiologist-in-chief at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

But these are nevertheless very important data to help guide policy decision, as the time comes for seasonal flu shot, he said.

This latest finding raises questions about the order in which to get flu shots.

Across Canada, public health authorities are fiercely debating the idea of shortening, delaying or scrapping their seasonal flu vaccination campaign in favour of mass inoculation against A/H1N1.

The main reason is because A/H1N1 may be the dominant strain of influenza circulating when the fall flu season hits, meaning it could be a waste of time and resources to mount a seasonal flu vaccine campaign.

See you next post :-)