UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Prevention and Treatment of Influenza A and B Therapeutics Initiative (University of British Columbia)

Description

Therapeutics Letter 38 discusses the prevention and treatment of influenza A and B. Conclusions: Prevention: Vaccination in cohort studies lowered rates of hospitalization, serious morbidity and mortality in patients over 60. Amantadine is a second-line preventive agent. Treatment: Antiviral treatment at the onset of symptoms shows that amantadine reduces fever by one day and oseltamivir and zanamivir reduce duration of flu symptoms by 0.8 – 0.9 day. RCTs are needed to determine whether any prevention or treatment of influenza reduces complications leading to hospitalization or mortality.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International