Mandatory influenza vaccinations in healthcare workers



Mandatory influenza vaccinations in healthcare workers

Annotated Bibliography

Abramson, Z.H. & Levi, O., (2008) Influenza vaccination among primary healthcare workers. Vaccine 26(20): pp. 2482 -2489.

The term influenza describes a group of viruses that cause sporadic and epidemic outbreaks of influenza (the flu) in mammals. The human disease influenza is a respiratory illness characterized by fever and chills, headache, and muscle pain. The disease is not normally fatal in healthy individuals in the general population, but it, nevertheless, causes a significant number of deaths worldwide each year, especially among the elderly, the young, and the infirm. In years with severe epidemics, fatalities from the virus infection increase dramatically. Influenza has been labeled and entitled as amongst the most deadly emerging diseases.

Christini, A., Shutt, K., & Byers, K., (2007) Influenza vaccination rates and motivators among healthcare worker groups. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 28(2): pp.171-177.

Humans become infected mainly by viruses containing H1, H2, or H3 spikes, although sporadic flu cases have been caused by strains with H5 and H9 spikes. Animals tend to become infected with viruses containing H4 and higher spikes. Currently, N1 and N2 combine with H spikes in most human and animal flu outbreaks.

Flu outbreaks normally occur annually, in the winter months. No one has definitively proven why winter produces more severe outbreaks, but two theories have been proposed as the most likely reasons. People crowd together indoors during the winter months (in temperate climate regions) and thus aid the spread of the virus.

Mah, M., et al., (2005) Understanding influenza vaccination attitudes at a Canadian cancer center. American Journal of Infection Control, 33(4): pp.243-250.

The biology behind flu outbreaks relates to the virulence of the virus and the body's ability to combat the virus; both factors are determined, in large part, by the virus's antigenic subtype. ...