BMJ  2008;336:172 (26 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39465.484421.3A

Letters

Preventing flu-like illness

Reason for optimism

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claims that the single best way to prevent seasonal flu is to get vaccinated each year.1 Such confidence in influenza vaccines seems misplaced for two reasons. Firstly, if CDC viral surveillance data are correct, then in recent years true influenza viruses have caused an average of only 12% of influenza-like illness2 (the syndrome the public thinks of as "flu" and, most critically, the syndrome the public is trying to avoid). Since influenza vaccine does not work against non-influenza viruses,3 how can the agency responsibly claim vaccines are the best way to prevent seasonal flu?

Secondly, the track record for influenza vaccination is not stellar. Over the past years, numerous reviews have shown that the benefits of influenza vaccination have been overstated—most importantly in elderly people, the group most needing protection.

With all the focus on influenza instead of influenza-like illness, we . . . [Full text of this article]

Peter Doshi, graduate student

1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

pnd@mit.edu


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