All Articles on Vaccines

• Flu season never ends for Group Health researchers

  Although this year’s flu season is pretty typical, we’re seeing more hospitalizations of people under age 65 than normal, probably because H1N1 is the predominant virus and it affects younger people more than other flu strains.
• Epidemic of E. coli infections traced to one strain

  Virulent, drug-resistant forms of Escherichia coli that have recently spread around the world emerged from a single strain of the bacteria—not many different strains, as has been widely supposed, according to a new study in mBio, the flagship journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The strain causes millions of urinary, kidney, and bloodstream infections a year and has a far greater clinical and economic impact than any other strain of bacteria, including the so-called MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) superbug.”
• NIH expands Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units

  A nationwide group of institutions that conducts clinical trials of promising candidate vaccines and therapies for infectious diseases, known as the Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEUs), has been awarded nine contracts to strengthen and broaden the scope of its research. Group Health Research Institute is one of these institutions.
• Less reaction to DTaP vaccine given in kids’ thighs than arms

  Children age 12 to 35 months who receive DTaP vaccine in their thigh muscle rather than their arm are around half as likely to be brought in for medical attention for an injection-site reaction. So says a new study of 1.4 million children at Group Health and seven other Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) centers across the country, e-published on January 14 in Pediatrics.
• Pneumococcal vaccine being tested in older adults

  Lisa A. Jackson, MD, MPH, is leading a study of pneumococcal vaccine in older adults at six Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEUs) across the nation, including at Group Health. Dr. Jackson, a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute, leads the Seattle-area VTEU. Dr. Jackson and her colleagues plan to see if a higher dose of a pneumococcal vaccine will create a stronger immune response in older adults who received an earlier-generation vaccine against pneumonia and other pneumococcal diseases.
• Can new approaches to talking about vaccines boost childhood immunization rates?

  Washington’s highest-in-the-nation immunization exemption rate may be inviting a full-blown outbreak of vaccine-preventable disease.
• The Group Health Biostatistics unit

  The Group Health Biostatistics unit: Team science at its best.