Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
2404255 | Vaccine | 2010 | 7 Pages |
The diagnosis of influenza is often missed in older adults and illness presentation may be modified by prior vaccination. We evaluated the symptoms and immunologic markers predicting laboratory-confirmed influenza (LCI) among vaccinated older adults. In subjects with influenza-like illness (ILI), fever distinguished subjects with laboratory-confirmed influenza (LCI) from those with other ILI (39% vs. 12.5%, p = 0.009). In LCI subjects who did not seroconvert to influenza infection, pre-infection levels of the cytolytic mediator, granzyme B, correlated with fever (r = 1.000; p = 0.01) and the IFN-γ:IL-10 ratio (r = 0.999; p = 0.03), and increased following influenza infection in LCI vs. ILI subjects (p = 0.03). The cell-mediated immune response to influenza distinguishes A/H3N2 LCI from other ILI in older adults, and suggests a link between cell-mediated immunity and influenza illness severity in vaccinated older adults.