Three out of seven vaccinated children were positive to unspecified A virus (one child) or A/H3N2 virus (two children) in the 2011–2012 season, Y-27632 whereas the remaining four vaccinated cases in the 2012–2013 season were positive to B virus. Nine children (one case and eight controls) received two doses

of the vaccine in the same season (VE 79%; 95% CI: −57% to 100%). When the analysis was restricted to hospitalised children a higher estimate of VE, with respect to the overall, was obtained (53%; 95% CI −45% to 85%). Our study estimated around 40% reduction in visits to EDs and hospitalisations for ILI in children, although not statistically significant and with wide confidence intervals. Even though the confidence intervals of the estimates were largely overlapping, a slightly lower effectiveness was estimated in the second year. The four vaccinated cases in the 2012–2013 season were positive to the B virus. Data from our study and virological surveys performed in Italy [21] showed that the B/Yamagata lineage was circulating in the latter season (whereas B/Brisbane strain, belonging

to a different lineage, was included in the seasonal vaccine), which may explain the lower VE of the 2012–2013 vaccine with respect to the 2011–2012, when the A(H3N2) and A(H1N1) were mostly present. The matching between the vaccine and circulating strains of influenza season is a recognised factor influencing the VE [22]. The main limitation of the study derives from the low vaccination coverage observed in the Italian paediatric population (4% in the control group). This proportion was similar to that observed in Italy during the 2009 pandemic [23]. Due Selleckchem ABT199 to the few vaccinated children it was not possible to perform stratified analyses by variables of interest, such as type of virus/vaccine, age groups, presence of chronic conditions and prior vaccination status. Assuming as true the estimate of efficacy in our study, to reach statistical significance we should have had (with alpha error of 5% and power 80%), either

a 25% proportion of vaccinated children or a study population of ILI larger than 4000. However, the number of children enrolled in our study is large in comparison with other recently published articles. In the I-MOVE study, the paediatric population (1–14 years) amounted to 512 children who were included in five 17-DMAG (Alvespimycin) HCl European countries [24]. The adopted study design allows to control for the confounding effect of baseline clinical status. The reason relies on the definition of the control group, consisting of children who tested negative for the influenza virus vaccine [25]. It is well documented that several conditions increase the likelihood of developing an ILI and represent, at the same time, an indication for vaccination. In our study, case and control subjects were similar with reference to the prevalence of chronic conditions, but not for symptoms at onset.