La prevención de la influenza.

Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is a common morbidity cause in Mexico and influenza virus is one of its several etiologic agents. Each year, influenza virus causes ARI epidemics of variable magnitude, spanning from November to March. People of all ages are affected during these epidemics and mortality is high in aging and chronically iII, debilitated persons. Yearly epidemics are due to antigenic variation of influenza virus. An inactivated virus vaccine is available for preventing this infection, however, its efficacy is not optimal and ranges from 60-90% depending on the relatedness of the vaccine strains to wild type virus circulating on a given year. Thus, vaccine composition changes every year and includes the three strains of virus which most recently had worldwide circulation. It Is recommended to apply this vaccine to healthy people 50 years or older, or persons of any age suffering chronic debilitating medical conditions. September-October is the best vaccination time. Authors briefly describe drugs used for influenza prophylaxis and treatment. Epidemiological considerations regarding the expected and unavoidable influenza pandemic are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]