[The French Committee for the prevention and control of influenza and the 2009 influenza pandemic: Lessons learnt].

The Committee for the Prevention and Control of Influenza (Comité de lutte contre la Grippe - CLCG) is an advisory committee to the French Health Minister for a medical and scientific collective expertise on the measures to be implemented to control or to reduce the impact of an epidemic or a pandemic of influenza. Appointed by decree, the CLCG consists of ex-officio members; representatives of French Agencies strongly involved by influenza and qualified personalities, representing various fields of expertise. Collective expertise is based on consensus after thorough collective discussion.

Vaccination in older adults: development of an educational tool, Vaxisenior, in France.

The benefits of vaccination in older adults are well documented yet there is poor uptake of such preventive measures, and one of the main reasons in France is a lack of recommendation and support from healthcare professionals. To address this issue a multidisciplinary group of experts has developed an educational tool, Vaxisenior, to assist in the training of physicians/healthcare workers who can act as advocates for immunization programs. The tool comprises of eight sections (general introduction; immunosenescence; diphtheria-tetanus-poliomyelitis; influenza; pneumococcus; pertussis; herpes zoster; and vaccines for travelers).

Effect of influenza vaccination of nursing home staff on mortality of residents: a cluster-randomized trial.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of staff influenza vaccination on all-cause mortality in nursing home residents.

Design: Pair-matched cluster-randomized trial.

Setting: Forty nursing homes matched for size, staff vaccination coverage during the previous season, and resident disability index.

Educational vaccine tools: the French initiative.

Prevention is an important but neglected issue in geriatric medicine. Vaccination plays a major role in prevention of infectious diseases, but its implementation in clinical practice is far from perfect. To improve practice, a group of French experts composed of geriatricians and infectious disease specialists prepared a set of educational material about vaccination for older subjects.

Cardiac sarcoidosis: a retrospective study of 41 cases.

This retrospective study concerned 18 female and 23 male patients with cardiac sarcoidosis (CS). The average age at CS diagnosis was 38 years. CS was observed in white (73% of cases) and in black or Caribbean patients (27% of cases).

[Antibiotic therapy in the elderly].

The management of antibiotherapy in elderly patients is a unique and challenging problem. Old patients often suffer more serious complications of infection, more serious adverse events and drug interaction with drug therapy. The choice of antibiotherapy must also take into account the evolution of bacterial ecology.