Route of flu vaccination does not affect cellular immune response

In a study of more than 150 men infected or uninfected with HIV, whether participants received influenza vaccination intradermally or intramuscularly had no impact on cellular immune responses regardless of HIV status, though the response to vaccination was “severely compromised” in participants with low CD4 counts, researchers reported.

“Influenza virus causes an estimated 291,243 to 645,832 fatalities annually and continues to remain a pathogen of significant public health importance. Those especially susceptible to severe illness or complications from influenza infection include young children, pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals like those living with HIV,” Samuel Amoah, PhD, a research scientist for Battelle Memorial Institute, and colleagues wrote in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.