News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – H1N1 flu patients who were also infected with a common cause of pneumonia were 125 times more likely to develop life-threatening disease, a team of American and Argentinean researchers reported Thursday.

Dec 9, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – In an update of a review on the role of neuraminidase inhibitors in seasonal flu prevention and treatment, the authors reversed a previous conclusion that oseltamivir (Tamiflu) prevents complications like pneumonia in healthy patients because they were unable to reconstruct the data in one of the key studies that found a benefit.

(CIDRAP News) – In a worrisome but not unexpected pandemic-related development, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that it is seeing a spike in serious pneumococcal disease, particularly in younger patients.

(CIDRAP News) – The susceptibility of some young, healthy people to severe illness with pandemic H1N1 influenza marks a striking difference from the pattern of disease seen in seasonal flu epidemics, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

Editor's note: This story was revised Sep 29 to correct a detail about when pneumonia cases were diagnosed.

(CIDRAP News) – Novel H1N1 influenza outbreaks are starting to wane in the southern hemisphere, and while most cases are still mild, clinicians are reporting some severe cases of viral pneumonia in young, previously healthy people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.