BMJ  2006;333 (16 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7581.0-a

This week in the BMJ

Flu vaccine for staff protects care home residents

Vaccinating care home staff against influenza in times of moderate influenza activity can reduce deaths, health service use, and hospital admissions in residents, say Hayward and colleagues (10.1136/bmj.39010.581354.55). The authors randomised 44 care homes in the United Kingdom to offering their staff influenza vaccine or not for two consecutive winters. In the first winter, when influenza activity was high, vaccination had a significant positive impact on residents' health; but this was not seen the next winter when influenza rates were lower than usual.

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Relevant Article

Effectiveness of an influenza vaccine programme for care home staff to prevent death, morbidity, and health service use among residents: cluster randomised controlled trial

Andrew C Hayward, Richard Harling, Sally Wetten, Anne M Johnson, Susan Munro, Julia Smedley, Shahed Murad, and John M Watson
BMJ 2006 333: 1241. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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