Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
During A Nasty Flu Season, Promising Drug That Kills The Virus Is On Horizon
CNN: Flu Warfare May Look Different Next Year
New ways of preventing and treating the flu are on the horizon. One experimental treatment developed by researchers in Japan has garnered plenty of attention, but only time will tell whether or not the drug is worthy of whole-hearted enthusiasm. In October, Shionogi & Co. Ltd., based in Osaka, reported that its experimental drug baloxavir marboxil reduced influenza viral load to undetectable levels -- killed the virus -- within 24 hours for more than half of the 414 participants in a study. (Scutti, 2/14)
In other news on the flu —
The Washington Post: Tracking The Flu Week By Week
This flu season is turning out to be so intense that the number of people seeking care at doctors' offices and emergency rooms has surged to levels not reported since the peak of the 2009 swine flu pandemic, federal officials said Feb. 9. This year's vaccine is less effective against the strain of virus making the rounds. But there's another factor that gives aggressive viruses such as this one an extra punch in the United States: lack of access to paid sick time. (Cameron and Keating, 2/14)
The Associated Press: Flu Kills First Delaware Woman Without Underlying Illness
Delaware health officials say the flu has killed the first person in the state who didn't have an underlying condition. The New Journal of Wilmington reports the 47-year-old woman who died this week did not have this year's flu shot and was infected with influenza B. The 10 other Delawareans who have died from the flu all had underlying conditions; Six of them had received a flu shot. (2/15)
