An influenza B outbreak during the 2007/2008 winter among appropriately immunized elderly people living in a nursing home

Abstract The study evaluated the immunogenicity and efficacy of a trivalent subunit MF59-adjuvanted influenza vaccine (A/Wisconsin/67/05 (H3N2), A/Solomon Islands/3/06 (H1N1) and B/Malaysia/2506/04) in preventing serologically diagnosed infections in a group of 67 institutionalized elderly volunteers during 2007/2008 winter, characterized by co-circulation of drifted A/H3N2, A/H1N1 and B influenza viruses. Influenza vaccination induced a significant increase in the amounts of hemagglutination inhibiting antibodies, both against the vaccine and the epidemic drifted strains. However, vaccination did not prevent the circulation of the new drifted influenza B virus (B/Florida/4/06-like), belonging to the B/Yamagata/16/88-lineage, antigenically and genetically distinct from B/Victoria/2/87-lineage viruses from which the vaccine B strain was derived.