BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – While this year’s life-threatening flu season is in its closing stages, extensive action by medical researchers to find the most effective methods of safeguarding the population against seasonal and pandemic influenza continues.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) recently began a study to ensure the safety and effectiveness of Tamiflu, a common influenza treatment and prevention drug, on infants and children younger than 2.

“Babies metabolize drugs differently than older children and adults,” said Richard Whitley, M.D., professor of pediatrics in the UAB Department of Pediatrics and co-principal investigator on the study. “So far, little research has been done to figure out the most effective type and dosages of treatment drugs for infants affected by influenza.”

Participating UAB doctors will administer Tamiflu to children younger than 2 years old who have been diagnosed with influenza. Researchers will then assess the effectiveness of the drug in clearing the virus and the potential development of drug resistance.

Past research shows that the most severe cases of seasonal influenza occur in children less than 2 years of age. In addition, young children are disproportionately impacted by the H5N1 strains of influenza, which is considered a possible source of a pandemic.

Although the CDC Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices recently recommended influenza immunization of children as young as 6 months of age, Whitley said that treatment drugs for this age group are still needed. In fact, the vaccine is only 80 percent effective at best, according to Whitley.

Researchers hope to complete this study with in the next two of years. This study was funded by the Collaborative Antiviral Study Group (CASG), a multi-center clinical trials group funded by the National Institutes of Health.

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