Clinical

Influenza A (H1N1) Virus in Patients with IBD

Tuesday, 03 November 2009 15:11

Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Review Article: Influenza A (H1N1) Virus in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

J.-F. RAHIER, Y. YAZDANPANAH, N. VIGET, S. TRAVIS & J.-F. COLOMBEL

H1N1 is a virus predominantly affecting young patients. Those young patients who are immunocompromised because they have underlining diseases are at a higher risk of complications from the virus.

A new review paper on the issues suggests these patients should be offered prevention or treatment with anti-viral drugs if affected.

The paper concludes that pragmatic advice is the best that can be offered in the current circumstances because of a porosity of evidence. It says that the investigation into the impact of H1N1 in young people with chronic conditions is needed.