Folks who come down with the flu this season may be turned onto Baloxivir, an anti-viral treatment that’s been out a little over a year publicly.
LSU Health New Orleans Professor Dr. Fred Lopez says if you get infected, the treatment can help reduce the severity and amount of time you’ll be under the weather.
“It was approved in October of 2018 by the FDA for treatment of acute, uncomplicated flu infections, provided you can start it within two days of the onset of symptoms,” says Lopez.
The treatment is approved for anyone over the age of 12.
It’s not the only post-infection flu medication out there, but Lopez says unlike the others it’s just a single dose in pill form, and it’s the first post-infection treatment to be created in a few decades, “Which means if the flu were to develop resistances to those older medications, we now have a new drug with a new mechanism of action that might be effective against those resistant flu viruses,” says Lopez.
That being said Lopez says there’s no substitute for the flu vaccine.
“The flu vaccine is the best preventative measure we have for the flu and should be taken by anyone six months of age or older in the country,” says Lopez.
Less than 50 percent of US adults get vaccinated for the flu every year.
