Recent changes in the trends of seasonal influenza outbreaks in the Nagano Prefectural area of Japan: an oseltamivir effect?
We carried out a study to assess the pharmacological role of oseltamivir in the regulation of influenza epidemics in Japan, examining data for the years 1998 to 2006 from Nagano Prefecture. Oseltamivir is effective for the treatment of influenza, and its use in Japan has increased in the 3 years from 2003 to 2006. We found that, in the Nagano Prefectural area, the peak in the number of influenza infections showed a deviation to later periods after the 2003 season. and after 2003, it also took a longer time to reach the end of the seasonal epidemics of influenza infections compared with data from 1998 to 2002. To prevent influenza outbreaks having a long duration, we believe that the period of isolation in patients receiving anti-influenza drugs has to be reconsidered.
Yasui
Kozo
K
Department of Pediatrics, Nagano Red Cross Hospital, Wakasato 5-22-1, Nagano 380-8582, Japan. k-yasui@nagano-med.jrc.or.jp
Amano
Yoshiro
Y
Minami
Isaki
I
Nakamura
Shinichi
S
Akazawa
Yohei
Y
Uchida
Noriko
N
D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D029521:Alphainfluenzavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D029524:Betainfluenzavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D053139:Oseltamivir / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010356:Patient Isolation; D012621:Seasons
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D053139:Oseltamivir