We have been hearing that all pregnant women, young children, and elderly people need to get a flu shot. How about your unborn baby? He/she could use one too. “Our data show that a single dose of maternal influenza vaccine provides a considerable two-for-one benefit to both mothers and their young infants,” wrote a team led by Dr. Mark C. Steinhoff, of Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore. They also wrote, “childhood deaths associated with influenza are most frequent in infants under the age of 6 months,”. Unfortunately, for children under 6 months, it is not recommended they receive a flu shot. The researchers knew newborns did receive some immunities to the flu virus from the mother’s antibodies which circulate in the fetal environment. They wondered if a flu shot would have the same effect. To find out, the team tracked 340 Bangladeshi mother-infant pairs during 2004-2005.

The researchers found that babies born to vaccinated mothers had a 63% lower risk of laboratory-confirmed influenza compared to babies whose mothers had not received the flu shot. The incidence of any type of respiratory illness with fever also declined, from 153 cases among infants born to unvaccinated mothers to 110 cases among babies whose mothers had gotten the flu shot. Researchers say this trial offers “unique evidence supporting the strategy of maternal immunization to prevent influenza infection in young infants and their mothers.”

Few pregnant women actually follow CDC recommendations and receive the flu shot. I know I have never had one. Even my kids don’t get one every year. We are a generally healthy family so I don’t really think about it. Maybe this year, I will have to join the line and get injected (oops did I let the cat out of the bag? I guess another post is needed).

If you are pregnant, get your flu shot!

This is yet another reason why prenatal care is so incredibly important.  Did you know “Breast-feeding remains a leading route of HIV transmission in the developing world”?  This is according to an article in Science Daily.  Most babies are infected by mothers who have no idea they have the virus.  In a six year study of more than 2,000 infants by three teams at The John Hopkins University along with teams in Ethiopia, India, and Uganda, showed that a drug can prevent HIV transmission to an uninfected baby through the infected mother’s breast milk.  Check out the article for the full scoop.

Another articletalks about vaccinating the infants with probiotic lactobacilli from the human mouth which can block HIV transmission via breastfeeding.  This study was conducted by the University of Illinois and presented at the 86th General Session of the International Association for Dental Research.  Check out this article too.  This sounds like a huge step in creating a vaccine for transmitting HIV through at least one avenue.

Isn’t science and what the brain can figure out amazing?