Influenza

Influenza in primary care:

For advice on treatment and prophylaxis, see current Public Health England Guidance.

Vaccination

In addition to at risk populations (see additional information), annual influenza vaccination should also be offered to the following groups:

• people living in long-stay residential and nursing homes or other long-stay care facilities
• household contacts of immunocompromised individuals
• principal carers of dependent individuals

Influenza in hospital:

All guidance on influenza, including Infection Control advice, sampling, treatment and prophylaxis, can be accessed from the Infection Prevention and Control page on AthenA (link only active if accessing via NHS network).

Influenza causes symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection, associated with sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, myalgia, and extreme fatigue. In healthy individuals, influenza is self-limiting. 

Patients should be referred for in-patient assessment if they have shortness of breath, pleuritic chest pain or haemoptysis, as these may indicate severe complications such as influenza pneumonitis or a secondary bacterial pneumonia.

If flu is known to be circulating in the community, patients from risk groups should be treated within 48 hours of onset of flu-like illness or of close-contact exposure. Administration commencing beyond 48 hours is an off-label use but may still offer some benefit to at-risk groups.

The following risk groups have a higher incidence of severe disease or complications:

• pregnant women (including up to 2 weeks post-partum)
• children under 6 months of age
• patients with chronic respiratory, cardiac, renal, liver or neurological disease
• patients with diabetes mellitus
• those 65 years or older
• patients who are severely immunosuppressed
• those that are morbidly obese (BMI ≥40)