Department of Emergency Medicine

UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: Pediatric Influenza Antiviral Treatment

Category: Pediatrics

Posted: 1/11/2013 by Rose Chasm, MD (Updated: 11/22/2024)
Click here to contact Rose Chasm, MD

  • CDC recommends pediatric influenza antiviral treatment for those at higher risk for influenza complications, and include the following:
  1. less than 2 years of age;
  2. chronic diseases including: pulmonary (ie asthma), cardiovascular (except hypertension alone), renal, hepatic, hematologic (ie sickle cell disease), metabolic (ie diabetes), neurologic/neurodevelopmental (ie cerebral palsy, epilepsy), and intellectual disability (ie mental retardation)
  3. immunosuppression (ie HIV)
  4. less than 19 years of age and on chronic aspirin treatment;
  5. morbid obesity (BMI>40)
  • adamantanes (amantadine and rimantadine) should not be used due to high levels of resistance to influenza A
  • neuraminadase inhibitors (oseltamivir and zanamivir) should be started within 48 hours of illness onset to reduce the duration and severity of disease
  • oseltamivir can be used in children as young as 2 weeks of age at a dose of 3mg/kg twice daily for 5 days.

 

References

CDC MMWR 1/2011

FDA 12/2012


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