A snapshot of patients who required care at Duke University Hospital during this year’s flu season shows that those who had not been vaccinated had severe cases and needed the most intensive treatment.
In an analysis of the first 55 patients treated for flu at the academic medical center from November 2013 through Jan. 8, 2014, Duke Medicine researchers found that only two of the 22 patients who required intensive care had been vaccinated prior to getting sick.
The findings were published online in Mon., Feb. 10, 2014, in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
“Our observations are important because they reinforce a growing body of evidence that the influenza vaccine provides protection from severe illness requiring hospitalizations,” said lead author Cameron Wolfe, MD, assistant professor of medicine (Infectious Diseases). “The public health implications are important, because not only could a potentially deadly infection be avoided with a $30 shot, but costly hospitalizations could also be reduced.”
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