May 30, 2013
Despite numerous medical advances over the past century, the flu—a seasonal rite of passage for
many around the world—still remains deadly and dangerous. An estimated
150,000 to 200,000 are hospitalized from influenza annually just in the
United States, and between 30,000 to 50,000 die from this infection. The
flu takes a heavy financial toll as well, leading countries to lose
billions in direct medical costs, loss of productivity, and loss of
life. In April of this year, a new flu strain known as H7N9, thought to
have the potential to cause a pandemic, emerged in China. This novel
strain's high mortality rate, more than 20 percent, has led the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention to issue predictions of
hospitalizations, deaths, and economic impacts several times higher than
those caused by the typical seasonal flu.
In light of this new
information, researchers have published a comprehensive overview of
current flu research and efforts to combat this potentially lethal
disease, including global surveillance to track the flu and vaccines and
antiviral drugs currently in use. They also issue a call to improve
efforts to fight the flu, including improving surveillance, developing
new types of vaccines and drugs, and—most importantly—improving efforts
to educate the public about the flu. This review article, entitled
"Adapting global influenza management strategies to address emerging
viruses", is published online by the American Journal of Physiology-Lung
Cellular and Molecular Physiology.
The new article is written by Diana L. Noah and James W. Noah, both of
the Southern Research Institute.
Continued:
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-flu-strains-prompt-current-redouble.html
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