November 25, 2013

Guideline Title

Recommendations for prevention and control of influenza in children, 2013–2014.

Bibliographic Source(s)

Committee on Infectious Diseases. Recommendations for prevention and control of influenza in children, 2013-2014. Pediatrics. 2013 Oct;132(4):e1089-104. [3 references] PubMed

Guideline Status

This is the current release of the guideline.
This guideline updates a previous version: Committee on Infectious Diseases. Recommendations for prevention and control of influenza in children, 2011-2012. Pediatrics. 2011 Oct;128(4):813-25.
All policy statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics automatically expire 5 years after publication unless reaffirmed, revised, or retired at or before that time.

2013 Oct;132(4):e1089-104. doi: 10.1542/peds.2013-2377. Epub 2013 Sep 2.

Recommendations for prevention and control of influenza in children, 2013-2014.

Committee on infectious diseases.

Abstract

The purpose of this statement is to update recommendations for routine use of seasonal influenza vaccine and antiviral medications for the prevention and treatment of influenza in children. Highlights for the upcoming 2013-2014 season include (1) this year's trivalent influenza vaccine contains an A/California/7/2009 (H1N1) pdm09-like virus (same as 2012-2013); an A/Texas/50/2012 (H3N2) virus (antigenically like the 2012-2013 strain); and a B/Massachusetts/2/2012-like virus (a B/Yamagata lineage like 2012-2013 but a different virus); (2) new quadrivalent influenza vaccines with an additional B virus (B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus [B/Victoria lineage]) have been licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration; (3) annual universal influenza immunization is indicated with either a trivalent or quadrivalent vaccine (no preference); and (4) the dosing algorithm for administration of influenza vaccine to children 6 months through 8 years of age is unchanged from 2012-2013. As always, pediatricians, nurses, and all health care personnel should promote influenza vaccine use and infection control measures. In addition, pediatricians should promptly identify influenza infections to enable rapid antiviral treatment, when indicated, to reduce morbidity and mortality.