Antiviral influenza drug guidance
Antiviral influenza drug guidance
Here's what HHS recommends
The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services has extensive guidelines on how health care providers and public health agencies should handle an influenza pandemic.
These guidelines, called Guidance on Antiviral Drug Use during an Influenza Pandemic, include advice on handling post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), with antiviral drugs like oseltamivir (Tamiflu®). Here are some of the suggestions.
Antiviral drugs from public sector stockpiles:
- Treatment, PEP, and targeted prophylaxis should be provided upon an initial pandemic outbreak overseas and in the United States. This is for the purpose of containing the initial outbreak of a novel influenza virus strain and preventing or slowing down a pandemic, giving health authorities time for preparedness.
- PEP should be provided to exposed travelers entering the United States early in a pandemic. This contributes to a risk-based policy to reduce the entry of infected persons and delay U.S. outbreaks.
- Treatment should be given to persons with pandemic influenza illness to reduce influenza complications, hospitalization, and death. Treatment also will reduce duration of illness and transmission of infection.
- PEP should be provided for outbreak control in nursing homes, prisons, and other closed settings. This reduces the high risk of illness and death when outbreaks occur in such settings and is consistent with accepted public health practice.
Antiviral drugs primarily from private sector stockpiles:
- Pre-exposure prophylaxis should be provided to health care and emergency service workers who are at high risk for exposure. Post-exposure prophylaxis should be provided to health care workers who are not at high risk for exposure. This strategy reduces infection and absenteeism in a critical workforce and protects those at highest occupational risk. It also reduces the chance of transmitting infection to high-risk patients with illnesses other than influenza.
- PEP should be provided to persons who are severely immunocompromised because of the high risk for severe complications and mortality from pandemic influenza, if infected, and because antiviral drugs are the only option for disease prevention.
Subscribe Now for Access
You have reached your article limit for the month. We hope you found our articles both enjoyable and insightful. For information on new subscriptions, product trials, alternative billing arrangements or group and site discounts please call 800-688-2421. We look forward to having you as a long-term member of the Relias Media community.