If you want your child safe from influenza, the new version of FluMist is supposedly more efficient that flu shots, according to a new study.

The researchers announced that FluMist is better at preventing influenza than traditional flu shots and that it reduces the risk of flu-related ear and lower respiratory tract infections.

In their report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine the researchers also specify that the spray is most effective in older babies and children under 5. Infants aged 6 to 12 months and older children that wheeze when they breathe should remain with the classical shots.

The study took place during the 2004-2005 flu season and involved 8,400 preschoolers from 249 international sites, located in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The study was co-sponsored by MedImmune, which is FluMist's maker.

The children that received the live vaccine via nasal spray had 54.9 percent fewer cases of lab-confirmed flu than children receiving the inactive, injected form of the vaccine.

“The nasal spray vaccine was significantly better at protecting children than the standard flu shot,� said study author Dr. Robert Belshe, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Saint Louis University Medical Center, in St. Louis.

“It looks like the live attenuated vaccine has promise to improve the prevention of influenza in young children. We'll have to weigh the risks and benefits and we have to see what the FDA has to say, but it's nice that we may have another tool,� said the co-author of an accompanying editorial, Dr. Carolyn Bridges, associate director of science in the influenza division of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Belshe's explanation of the spray's efficiency in this young age group is that, when sprayed into the nose, antibodies develop there. The flu virus is transmitted in the air and is often inhaled through the nose. The live vaccine also seems to offer broader protection against different strains of the flu in children, even in strains not included in the vaccine.

Belshe added that he wouldn't recommend the nasal spray vaccine to children under 12 months old, as during testing, wheezing occurred more often in children younger than 1 year who had received the spray.

Another important recommendation is that children suffering from asthma do not receive the nasal spray vaccine, because of the potential increase in wheezing.