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Swine flu vaccine may have been responsible for a sudden increase in cases of narcolepsy among schoolchildren in Finland, a study has found.

The original article can be found at: http://www.news.ninemsn.com.au/health/8443162/swine-flu-jab-linked-to-narcolepsy

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This story takes the 'new' out of 'news'. The association in Scandanavian countries between narcolepsy in young people and H1N1 influenza vaccination with Pandemrix was widely reported internationally about a year ago. This story refers to the recently-published academic papers describing the epidemiological investigations undertaken to investigate the association. Nevertheless, readers may not be aware of this background and concern about the safety of influenza vaccine would have been allayed by noting that the Glaxo Smith Kline-manufactured Pandemrix vaccine was never used in Australia. Local expert view, had it been sought, would likely have pointed this out - as did both experts on the Australian Science Media Centre site, http://www.aussmc.org/2012/03/round-up-h1n1-vaccine-linked-t o-child-narcolepsy-plos-one-%E 2%80%93-experts-respond/

Otherwise the story presents the facts clearly, in particular the odd predilection for young people. It omits though any speculation on the rather intriguing finding that among countries using Pandemrix, the Nordic countries, France and Ireland all had increased reports of narcolepsy in the young, but the UK and Canada did not, suggesting that factors other than Pandemrix alone may have contributed to the association with narcolepsy.

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