Management Of Flu Research Articles

Consumer perceptions of community pharmacists' involvement in antimicrobial stewardship: A quantitative study

Background Community pharmacist involvement in antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) within primary care is underutilised. Despite this view being consistently held across the pharmacy sector's policy, academic and professional spheres, there is limited understanding of how this positioning aligns with consumers' perceptions and expectations. Objective To explore participants' experience using antibiotics and their engagement with pharmacists to support their use. Methods Online survey of Australian adults recruited via Dynata's research panel in November 2022. Questions were organised into three sections: 1) understanding the participant's use of antibiotics, including their information needs; 2) exploring engagement with pharmacists on a cold and flu enquiry using a vignette question; and 3) demographic information. Results Doctors (42.0%), pharmacists (29.8%) and the internet including general searches (14.3%) were the top three sources for antibiotic information. Information about side effects and anticipated time to effect were more broadly sought from pharmacists than what was provided. Over 50% of respondents indicated alignment between the best practice example of a pharmacist providing cold and flu management advice with their own experience. 17% of respondents indicated that they would seek doctor's advice when considering cold and flu management options compared to 10% seeking pharmacist's advice. No statistically significant results between age groups or gender were observed. Conclusion Better visibility of community pharmacists' involvement in managing minor ailments in primary care, including more explicit linkage of pharmacist-administered vaccination services as an AMS strategy can support optimal antimicrobial use.

Sambucus nigra (black elder) as alternative treatment for cold and flu

Common cold and flu are caused by common respiratory viral pathogens, which results in hospitalization and death in the world. Among the viral infections, influenza viruses have worldwide spread with major effects on health of societies. Change in antigenic structures of influenza viruses is associated with the lack of effective treatments. Therefore, the use of herbal medicine as alternative choice can be used for management of flu and cold. The flowers of Sambucus nigra or black elders have been approved by commission E for cold, and flu. Although, elders are used in different herbal formulates, but there is no comprehensive study. The subject of this review article was to summarize the efficacy of black elder in treatment of cold and flu. For preparing this manuscript, the electronic resources, books, and thesis were searched by key words of Sambucus, elder, cold, flu, and viral infections. The results of investigations exhibited that there are four clinical trials for elder berries, which it reduced the cold duration and severity (fever, pain, congestion, cough), while there is no clinical trial for elder flower on common cold and flu in spite of its approval by commission E. So, evaluating the efficacy of elder flowers in comparison with its berries and standard treatment on patients with viral respiratory infections should be the subject of large clinical studies.

Severe flu management: a point of view.

Annual flu seasons are typically characterized by changes in types and subtypes of influenza, with variations in terms of severity. Despite remarkable improvements in the prevention and management of patients with suspected or laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of influenza, annual seasonal influenza continues to be associated with a high morbidity and mortality. Admission to the intensive care unit is required for patients with severe forms of seasonal influenza infection, with primary pneumonia being present in most of the cases. This review summarizes the most recent knowledge on the diagnosis and treatment strategies in critically ill patients with influenza, focused on diagnostic testing methods, antiviral therapy, use of corticosteroids, antibacterial and antifungal therapy, and supportive measures. The review focuses on diagnostic testing methods, antiviral therapy, use of corticosteroids, antibacterial and antifungal therapy, supportive measures and relevant existing evidence, in order to provide the non-expert clinician a useful overview. An enhanced understanding of current diagnostic and treatment aspects of influenza infection can contribute to improve outcomes and reduce mortality among ICU patients with influenza.

Help us understand current practice in cold and flu management in community pharmacy

Help us understand current practice in cold and flu management in community pharmacy

Understanding flu

Overview Influenza is a viral infection that causes seasonal illness and sporadic epidemics and pandemics. Immunisation remains the single most effective way of preventing influenza, although seasonal vaccines cannot prevent all cases. This Continuing Professional Development (CPD) module reviews the prevention and management of flu, and dispels the many myths that still exist about vaccination. Learning Outcomes After completing this module you will be able to: ▪ Recognise the differences between seasonal, epidemic and pandemic flu. ▪ Identify the at-risk groups eligible for seasonal flu vaccines. ▪ List the benefits, contraindications and side effects of flu vaccines. ▪ Know what appropriate pre-hospital treatment can be given to a patient with suspected influenza.

Influenza

Influenza (or flu) is an acute infection of the respiratory tract that causes sporadic respiratory illness, usually during Autumn and Winter. In the UK, it is responsible for at least 100 deaths a year, with epidemics every 2 to 3 years leading to a 10-fold increase in deaths, and pandemics every 30–40 years killing many more. This article aims to provide an overview of influenza for GPs involved in the management of flu, from prevention, to diagnosis and management of the acute illness in the community.

Exploring Secondary Students' Knowledge and Misconceptions about Influenza: Development, validation, and implementation of a multiple-choice influenza knowledge scale

Understanding infectious diseases such as influenza is an important element of health literacy. We present a fully validated knowledge instrument called the Assessment of Knowledge of Influenza (AKI) and use it to evaluate knowledge of influenza, with a focus on misconceptions, in Midwestern United States high-school students. A two-phase validation process was used. In phase 1, an initial factor structure was calculated based on 205 students of grades 9–12 at a rural school. In phase 2, one- and two-dimensional factor structures were analyzed from the perspectives of classical test theory and the Rasch model using structural equation modeling and principal components analysis (PCA) on Rasch residuals, respectively. Rasch knowledge measures were calculated for 410 students from 6 school districts in the Midwest, and misconceptions were verified through the χ 2 test. Eight items measured knowledge of flu transmission, and seven measured knowledge of flu management. While alpha reliability measures for the subscales were acceptable, Rasch person reliability measures and PCA on residuals advocated for a single-factor scale. Four misconceptions were found, which have not been previously documented in high-school students. The AKI is the first validated influenza knowledge assessment, and can be used by schools and health agencies to provide a quantitative measure of impact of interventions aimed at increasing understanding of influenza. This study also adds significantly to the literature on misconceptions about influenza in high-school students, a necessary step toward strategic development of educational interventions for these students.

Risky Zoographies: The Limits of Place in Avian Flu Management

AbstractGlobal anxieties about avian influenza stem from a growing recognition that highly-virulent, highly-mobile disease vectors infiltrate human spaces in ways that are difficult to perceive, and even more difficult to manage. This article analyses a participatory health intervention in Việt Nam to explore how avian influenza threats challenge long-held understandings of animals' place in the environment and society. In this intervention, poultry farmers collaborated with health workers to illustrate maps of avian flu risks in their communities. Participant-observation of the risk-mapping exercises shows that health workers treated poultry as commodities, and located these animals in environments that could be transformed and dominated by humans. However, these maps did not sufficiently represent the physical and social landscapes where humans and poultry coexist in Việt Nam. As such, farmers located poultry in environments dominated by risky nonhuman forces such as winds, waterways, and other organisms. I argue that these divergent risk maps demonstrate how ecological factors, interpersonal networks, and global market dynamics combine to engender a variety of interspecies relationships, which in turn shape the location of disease risks in space. I develop the term risky zoographies to signal the emergence of competing descriptions of animals and their habitats in zoonotic disease contexts. This concept suggests that as wild animals, livestock products, and microbial pathogens continue to globalise, place-based health interventions that limit animals to particular locales are proving inadequate. Risky zoographies signal the inextricability of nonhuman animals from human spaces, and reveal interspecies interactions that transect and transcend environments.

Swine flu: preparing for the second wave

Although the current swine flu pandemic shows signs of slowing, with reported weekly cases falling across the UK, health professionals need to prepare themselves for a possible second wave of pandemic swine flu this coming winter. The regional variations in swine flu management raise series concerns for future service delivery. If the H1N1 virus mutates and becomes more virulent, then there needs to be a single, coherent preparedness plan put in place across the whole country. Although a mild infection for the majority who catch it, swine flu has been shown to be fatal in a small number of cases. To help mitigate against the effects of any future pandemic, a truly unified national response is required.

The general practice experience of the swine flu epidemic in Victoria — lessons from the front line

The swine influenza (H1N1 09) outbreak in Victoria has provided an excellent opportunity to review the Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza (AHMPPI) and to assess its performance in practice. General practitioners play a major role in seasonal flu management, and it was expected that the AHMPPI would enable GPs on the front line to maintain this central role during the swine flu pandemic. The role of front-line GPs has been made extremely difficult by deficiencies in implementation of the AHMPPI, including resource supply failures, time-consuming administrative burdens, delays in receiving laboratory test results and approval for provision of oseltamivir to patients, and a lack of clear communication about policy changes as the situation progressed. We must use this experience to ensure timely and appropriate review of the AHMPPI and the way it is implemented. Better consultation with front-line clinicians, particularly GPs, is crucial and must occur as a matter of urgent priority.

Cost-Effective Management of Flu in Adults Older than 65 Years of Age

Cost-Effective Management of Flu in Adults Older than 65 Years of Age