Influenza News

Patients with influenza-like illness who tested positive for coronaviruses besides SARS-CoV-2 and received oseltamivir plus usual care recovered faster than patients who received only usual care, according to researchers.

As a resident, William Schaffner, MD, once showed up to work with influenza and was met by an incredulous look from his chief resident, who promptly sent him home.

A study conducted at dozens of primary care clinics in Japan showed that household contacts of people with influenza were 86% less likely to develop influenza after receiving a single dose of baloxavir marboxil as postexposure prophylaxis.

Practicing pediatricians have been using telehealth technology to communicate with patients who are not able to physically visit offices because of social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Infectious Diseases in Children asked Editorial Board Member Eugene Shapiro, MD, professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at Yale School of Medicine, if patients should pay the same amount for a telehealth visit as they would for an in-person visit.

Data from two test-negative design studies demonstrated similar vaccine effectiveness with a cell culture-based inactivated influenza vaccine and a standard inactivated influenza vaccine against laboratory-confirmed influenza A/H1N1.

A cell-based quadrivalent influenza vaccine prevented more influenza-related hospitalizations and ED visits, all-cause hospitalizations and hospitalizations related to serious respiratory events compared with egg-based quadrivalent vaccines.

Boston Children’s Hospital, once again, has claimed the top spot in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings for Best Children’s Hospital.

Accurate influenza diagnosis and vaccination could curtail unnecessary antibiotic use and help reduce the global threat of antibiotic resistance, according to findings in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Accurate influenza diagnosis and vaccination could curtail unnecessary antibiotic use and help reduce the global threat of antibiotic resistance, according to findings in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

In a letter, AAP President Sara H. Goza, MD, FAAP, asked HHS for “immediate, direct financial relief payments” for pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists “to keep practices open, pay staff, and procure needed supplies.”