In addition, typically low levels of influenza activity occurred in summer months
FRIDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Seasonal influenza vaccination coverage rates among children were low for the 2009/2010 season, though they did increase some over the 2008/2009 season, and, from June through September of 2010, low levels of influenza activity were reported, according to two reports published in the Oct. 8 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The first report provides an update on previous estimates of seasonal influenza vaccination coverage among children aged 6 months to 18 years using data from eight immunization information system sentinel sites for the 2009/2010 influenza season. The data revealed that the average (unweighted) vaccination coverage with one or more seasonal influenza vaccine doses was 26.3 percent, a 5.5 percentage point increase from the 2008/2009 season (20.8 percent). Vaccine coverage among children aged 6 to 23 months remained relatively flat between the 2008/2009 (55.2 percent) and 2009/2010 (55.7 percent) seasons, though other age groups experienced more notable increases. Full vaccination coverage was low during the 2009/2010 season, ranging from 34.7 percent in 6- to 23-month-olds to 15.3 percent in teenagers as old as 18.
A second report revealed that the United States experienced low levels of influenza activity from June 13 to Sept. 25, 2010, with typical seasonal patterns of influenza activity occurring in the Southern Hemisphere.
"Despite the overall low levels of influenza virus circulation throughout the summer in the United States, there have been clusters of H3N2 disease, as well as sporadic cases of infection with 2009 influenza A (H1N1) and influenza B viruses. These outbreaks are typical of sporadic outbreaks of influenza during the summer months," the authors of the second report write.
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