Influenza News

Well-child visits are associated with an increase in influenza-like illness among children and family members within 2 weeks of the visit, according to recent study findings published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

During this year’s influenza season, patients with the most severe infections and those who required admission to the ICU for influenza were not vaccinated with influenza vaccine, according to recent study findings published in the American Journal Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

A newly identified signature immune response could help doctors identify which newly diagnosed influenza patients are more likely to develop severe symptoms and suffer poor outcomes, according to recent study findings published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Since Monday, WHO confirmed 36 cases of influenza A(H7N9) virus in eastern China, bringing the total number of cases to 308. Sixty-three people have died of the infection.

Children aged 6 months to younger than 9 years can be effectively vaccinated against influenza with a quadrivalent influenza vaccine, according to recent study findings published in The Pediatrics Infectious Disease Journal.

The expeditious use of antiviral stockpiles appears to be the most effective means of controlling novel influenza strains if no matching vaccine is available, according to results of a recent study.

It’s that time of year when our attention turns away from influenza vaccination and toward the increasing number of patients with respiratory illness flooding our practices. But for the long-term good of our patients and our communities, we must keep vaccinating as long as influenza viruses are circulating and vaccines are available. This is especially true because 171 US children died of influenza and its complications last year.

Alere Inc. announced that the first rapid molecular diagnostic test capable of detecting and differentiating influenza A and influenza B within 15 minutes is now commercially available in Europe, according to a press release.

WHO reported Monday an additional 23 cases of human infection with influenza A(H7N9) virus, including one death.

The CDC has issued a health advisory reminding physicians about the symptoms of influenza A(H5N1), urging them to consider the possibility of the infection among recent travelers presenting with severe respiratory illness.