Nasal spray flu vaccine more effective: study

The vaccine, called Flumist, is being developed by Aviron of Mountain View, California, which sponsored the latest study with the National Institutes of Health.

Finding a flu vaccine that avoids needles has obvious advantages for children and anyone else who hates shots. However, the latest data suggest that the spray approach may also provide more powerful protection against the flu.

Results of the study were presented by Dr. Robert Belshe of Saint Louis University at an infectious disease meeting sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology.

In the study, 917 children received the spray vaccine, while 441 got dummysprays. Two per cent of the vaccinated children got the flu, compared with 13 per cent in the comparison group.

Doctors believe the spray works better because it is made with a weakened virus rather than a dead one. When sprayed up the nose, the virus causes a harmless infection and produces new copies of itself.

While the vaccine is likely to be aimed initially at children, Belshe said it probably will make sense for healthy adults as well. Researchers suspect that for the elderly, who are especially prone to serious flu infections, vaccination with both the spray and the shot may be better than either alone.