Study finds influenza B may be more severe than thought

From Lisa Schnirring at CIDRAP, excerpt :

" An autopsy study involving influenza B infections revealed how histologically similar the disease is to fatal influenza A and how quickly it can kill, challenging the notion that it is milder than influenza A.

The investigators, from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also found a high level of cardiac injury with fatal influenza B infections, especially in younger patients.

The research group said that comprehensive studies of influenza B deaths involving large series of patients and comparing those with and without bacterial pneumonia are lacking. Their findings appeared yesterday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Scientists know more about influenza A, because they keep close watch for unpredictable antigenic changes and the virus is found in a wide range of birds and mammals."