{"id":4075,"date":"2025-05-20T10:34:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T10:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/?p=4075"},"modified":"2025-05-20T10:34:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T10:34:24","slug":"single-dose-baloxavir-cuts-household-flu-transmission-by-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/?p=4075","title":{"rendered":"Single-Dose Baloxavir Cuts Household Flu Transmission by 32%"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A groundbreaking international study led by HKUMed has revealed that a single oral dose of baloxavir marboxil (baloxavir) significantly reduces influenza transmission within households. Published in&nbsp;<em>The <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1056\/NEJMoa2413156\"><em>New England Journal of Medicine<\/em><\/a>, the research offers the first robust evidence that antiviral treatment can curb the spread of flu to close contacts, marking a potential turning point in managing seasonal and pandemic influenza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The phase 3b trial, named CENTERSTONE, involved 1,457 influenza-positive patients and 2,681 household members across 15 countries. Participants received either baloxavir or a placebo within 48 hours of symptom onset. Key results showed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A\u00a0<strong>32% reduction<\/strong>\u00a0in flu transmission to untreated household members.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Faster viral load reduction in treated patients, with baloxavir cutting viral titers more sharply than placebo by day 3.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No detected transmission of drug-resistant viruses to contacts, despite emerging in 7.2% of treated patients.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>While the difference in symptomatic cases (5.8% vs. 7.6%) was not statistically significant, the study confirmed baloxavir\u2019s safety, with fewer adverse events compared to placebo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Professor Benjamin Cowling of HKUMed emphasized the dual benefit:&nbsp;<em>\u201cBaloxavir not only treats flu but also limits its spread\u2014a game-changer for pandemic preparedness and seasonal outbreaks, especially where vaccines are unavailable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The findings highlight baloxavir\u2019s role as a complementary tool to vaccination, offering a practical solution for high-risk settings. Future research may explore its broader public health impact, including use in schools or care homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A groundbreaking international study led by HKUMed has revealed that a single oral dose of baloxavir marboxil (baloxavir) significantly reduces influenza transmission within households. Published in&nbsp;The New England Journal of Medicine, the research offers the first robust evidence that antiviral treatment can curb the spread of flu to close contacts, marking a potential turning point [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1565],"tags":[1778,726,1566],"class_list":["post-4075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-medicine","tag-baloxavir","tag-health","tag-health-medicine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4076,"href":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075\/revisions\/4076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scientificworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}