Antibody response to trivalent influenza vaccine in the Northern and the Southern hemisphere in elite athletes

Abstract

Being frequent travelers, the elite athletes are advised to undergo an influenza vaccination. The aim of the study was to describe the antibody response to repeated trivalent, inactivated, split influenza vaccine, of different antigenic content, recommended for the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere, administered to sportsmen before the Olympic Games in Brasil in 2016. Fourteen athletes were included in the study. For both A/California/7/209/pdm09 A/H1N1/ antigen and A/Switzerland/971593/2013/A/H3N2/ antigen, higher seroconversion rates were obtained after the first than the second vaccination (10.2 vs. 1.5 and 10.6 vs. 3.0, respectively; p < 0.05 both). Conversion rates for B/Phuket/3073/2013, B/Brisbane/60/2008, and A/HongKong/4801/2014/A/H3N2/ antigens were lower. Nonetheless, the protection rate was greater than 70% for all antigens contained in both vaccines. The proportion of individuals demonstrating a high level of both protection rate and response rate was greater after the first than the second vaccination. We conclude that the immunological response after influenza vaccination is good in elite athletes and remains so after a second influenza vaccination required due to a different vaccine composition recommended for different hemispheres.