Influenza News

The FDA has accepted a new drug application and two new supplemental drug applications for the influenza antiviral Xofluza, all involving children, Genentech announced.

A single dose of a universal influenza vaccine, adjuvanted FLU-v, may provide prolonged protection against multiple strains of the influenza virus, according to results of a phase 2b trial published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The 2019-2020 influenza vaccine has been 45% effective overall in the United States this season and 55% effective in children, according to preliminary estimates published today in MMWR.

The FDA announced the approval of a vaccine to protect against pandemic influenza A(H5N1).

For the first time in 27 years, influenza B viruses have predominated in the United States, accounting for more than 56% of samples tested in public health laboratories as of Jan. 18, according to CDC data.

The 2019-2020 influenza season in Louisiana arrived earlier than usual, with the majority of infections caused by influenza B — a strain that has not predominated in the United States in 27 years.

To kick off the new year, IDC has assembled a list of the 10 most-read stories of 2019. Please follow the links to access the full stories.

A 3-year-old male living in Puerto Rico presented with progressive bilateral foot and lower extremity pain. He had been healthy until 4 months earlier, when he was diagnosed with influenza B. In addition to the common symptoms of influenza at that time, he also had the onset of pain in both feet. This pain continued, with a pattern of getting worse in the mornings, and reached a point where the patient refused to wear shoes. An orthopedic consultant failed to find a problem, and the patient was treated with pain medication, which had minimal effect. As his pain continued, he began having painful gingival swelling and erythema. His dentist referred him to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with gingivitis and myositis, supported by an elevated CPK of 1760 and an ESR of 40, with a negative bone scan. The patient’s gingival edema worsened, with friable bleeding gums and ongoing leg pains, and he was taken to the regional medical center. Additional history revealed that he never had fever, night sweats or joint inflammation or swelling, but he did have a mild, transient rash, now resolved.

The release of the latest iteration of the Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines on the management of influenza are a welcome addition that clinicians can employ to optimally diagnose and treat patients with influenza, an infectious disease that kills thousands of Americans annually. Of the myriad topics covered in the guidelines, one of the most important is antiviral treatments.

Hospitals in the United States implemented new policies based on the severe 2017-2018 influenza season, but experts agree that America’s health care systems would still be seriously challenged by another bad season.