Depressed pregnant women respond more strongly to flu viruses

Depressed pregnant women respond more strongly to the seasonal flu vaccine, producing higher levels of potentially damaging cytokines--a finding that could help explain why pregnant women have about six times the normal risk of hospitalization and complications from pandemic H1N1 influenza.  An immune overreaction to the virus is thought to be responsible for many of the complications of influenza. Dr. Lisa Christian, a psychiatrist at Ohio State University, and her colleagues reported the finding today in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity. The results appear to emphasize the need for pregnant women to be immunized against swine flu. Typically, only about 12% to 13% of pregnant women are immunized against seasonal flu, and it is not clear that vaccination rates will be higher with swine flu, despite the clear risk of not doing so. Pregnancy suppresses certain functions of the immune system to prevent rejection of the fetus and to protect the fetus from the ... (link)