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Pregnant women have long been advised to get a flu shot to prevent serious health complications from influenza. a new study, released March 11, 2010, suggests a flu shot during pregnancy may offer another long-term health benefit to the unborn child — preventing an increased risk of schizophrenia.

Studying the effects of influenza on brain development
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducted a study on how an influenza a infection during pregnancy affected the brains of rhesus monkey babies. Influenza a is a common cause of seasonal flu, especially during the early winter and early spring months.

The study involved 12 pregnant monkeys that were infected with a mild strain of influenza a virus while in their third trimester and 7 monkeys who remained healthy during their pregnancy. all the babies born to these monkeys appeared healthy at birth, with good birth weights and gestational lengths, as well as normal behavioral and neuromotor activity.

However, brain scans conducted after one year showed distinct differences between the babies from the influenza-infected mothers and those from the healthy monkeys. the babies from the mothers that had the flu were significantly smaller, with reduced areas of gray matter and white matter.

“The brain changes that we found in the monkey babies are similar to what we typically see in MRI scans of humans with schizophrenia,” said John H. Gilmore, M.D., professor of psychiatry in the UNC School of Medicine. “This suggests that human babies whose mothers had the flu while pregnant may have a greater risk of developing schizophrenia later in life than babies whose mothers did not have the flu.”

“This was a relatively mild flu infection, but it had a significant effect on the brains of the babies,” said lead author Sarah J. Short, Ph.D. “While these results aren’t directly applicable to humans, I do think they reinforce the idea, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that pregnant women should get flu shots, before they get sick.”

Getting a flu shot in Indianapolis
Pregnant women and other Indianapolis residents can receive seasonal and pandemic flu shots through the following Indianapolis area pharmacies and clinics:
CVS Minute Clinics
Walgreens Take Care Clinics
Kroger Pharmacies (with Wellness Services)
Marion County Health Department

Related article: Google launches new Flu Shot Finder to help locate local flu vaccination providers

For more articles by the Indianapolis Healthy Living Examiner, please visit Amanda’s homepage. To keep up with health news and information, click the subscribe link at the top of the page to receive email notification when new articles are published.

Flu shots during pregnancy may prevent an increased risk of mental illness for …

NEW YORK – New research from Australia confirms that the H1N1 flu hits pregnant women particularly hard–especially if they have asthma, obesity or diabetes.

“This finding underscores the importance of education regarding recommendations for vaccination in pregnancy and the need for rapid testing and earlier use of antivirals in suspected influenza,” Dr. Michelle L. Giles of Monash Medical Center in Clayton, Victoria, and her colleagues write.

While more than three-quarters of the women in the study had been treated with oseltamivir (Tamiflu), Giles and her team add, two-thirds had been sick for at least 48 hours before getting the drug. Flu medication should be started as soon as possible after symptoms begin to give patients the most benefit, they say.

Past studies have found that pregnant women with influenza may be at greater risk of complications like pneumonia, Giles and her colleagues note, although the effects of the flu on the fetus are less well understood.

To investigate the effects of the H1N1 influenza a strain in pregnancy, the researchers looked at 43 pregnant women with lab-confirmed H1N1 admitted to six different Victoria hospitals during the 2009 outbreak.

Two women were admitted during their first trimester, 13 during their second trimester and 28 in their third trimester. Twenty-five had been hospitalized due to flu-like illness; all but one of these women spent less than a week in the hospital. But among the 11 patients admitted for pneumonia, seven were hospitalized for at least a week.

Half of the women had at least one other health problem, such as asthma, obesity, or diabetes mellitus, but these women did not seem to be at increased risk of pneumonia or pregnancy complications compared to women without other health problems.

Fifteen of the women delivered their babies during hospitalization, six before 37 weeks’ gestation and 9 at 37 weeks or later. The researchers had outcome information on 24 babies at the end of July 2009. Twenty-one were alive, two had died in the womb (at 26 and 31 weeks’ gestation), and one died 26 days after delivery due to prematurity-related complications (this infant had been born at 26 weeks’ gestation). seven of the babies, including the infant who died, were tested for H1N1, and none of them were infected.

Forty percent of the women went into preterm labor, Giles and her team note, while the normal rate of premature delivery for the hospitals included in the study was around 10 percent. all of the women who delivered their babies before 37 weeks and had chest X-rays were confirmed to have pneumonia.

“The mechanism by which pregnancy, particularly late pregnancy, increases disease severity is unknown,” Giles and her team write. Immune system changes could be a factor, they add. a woman’s expanding belly can reduce her lung capacity, they add; this as well as the increased demands pregnancy places on the heart and lungs could also be factors.

Flu shots are recommended for pregnant women, the researchers add, but many don’t get them. While some experts say this is because many women are reluctant to receive immunizations or take drugs during pregnancy, they note, there is evidence that doctors’ lack of awareness may be “a major contributor, with good acceptance by mothers when the risks and benefits are explained.”

SOURCE: Clinical Infectious Diseases, March 1, 2010.

Findings confirm H1N1 flu's toll on pregnant women