Children with a severe form of epilepsy are “highly susceptible” to severe neurological complications and death from influenza infection and should be prioritised for vaccination, warn paediatric neurologists.

The recommendation is based on a study of influenza complications among 82 children and young adults with SCN1A-positive Dravet syndrome, which affects about one in 15,000 children.

Although seizures can be triggered both by infection and immunisation, doctors at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the University of Melbourne say the benefits of flu shots in this setting far outweigh the risk of vaccine-proximate seizures.

Their analysis revealed that 21 patients, aged five months to 25 years, had 24 documented flu infections that resulted in hospital presentation.