Potential adverse effects of negative publicity surrounding antivirals for influenza

Influenza is not trivial. During the first post-pandemic winter (2010-11), there were 8797 hospital admissions for influenza in England alone. At the peak, there were 851 influenza cases in critical care beds (~20% of UK capacity), mostly younger adults and children with pandemic H1N1.1 Prehospital antiviral use was uncommon (<3%), yet antibacterial drugs were often prescribed (25% in our series; unpublished data).

The latest Cochrane review of neuraminidase inhibitors for influenza was impressive but did not investigate antiviral effectiveness in severe influenza, illness caused by pandemic …