Influenza

In a study of older adults hospitalized with influenza and other acute respiratory illnesses, functional decline was common, and persistent and catastrophic for some, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

High-dose vs. low-dose flu vaccine effect on cardiopulmonary events in high-risk patients.

Routine use of a molecular point-of-care test-and-treat strategy for influenza improved detection and other outcomes in patients admitted to the hospital, according to results of the FluPOC trial.

The FDA announced it authorized the first combination test that allows patients to collect saliva samples at home and have them analyzed at a laboratory for the presence of COVID-19, influenza A and influenza B.

Healio and Cardiology Today have aggregated the most-read news from the virtual American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

The Healio editors have compiled a list of the most-read pulmonology news published in November.

An interim analysis that showed a COVID-19 vaccine candidate cocreated by AstraZeneca and Oxford University had an average efficacy of 70% and no significant safety concerns was the top infectious disease story of the week.

In 2018, about one-quarter of adults aged 18 to 34 years with CVD received a flu shot and in those with a history of MI only about 20% were vaccinated, researchers reported at the virtual American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

Injection of a high-dose influenza vaccine did not affect all-cause death, cardiac or pulmonary hospitalization compared with a lower dose in patients with prior MI or HF hospitalization, according to findings from the INVESTED trial.

Data recently presented during IDWeek showed that last season’s influenza vaccine provided substantial protection for children. It was the top story in infectious disease last week.