EFFECTS OF THE NEURAMINIDASE INHIBITOR ZANAMIVIR ON OTOLOGIC MANIFESTATIONS OF EXPERIMENTAL HUMAN INFLUENZA

Middle ear pressure (MEP) abnormalities are frequently observed during influenza virus infection and may serve as surrogate markers for the risk of otitis media, MEP abnormalities were evaluated in adult volunt eers who were inoculated with influenza A/Texas/36/91(H1N1) or B/Yamag ata/88 virus and given the antiviral zanamivir (GG167) intranasally as prophylaxis or early treatment in randomized, double-blind, placebo-c ontrolled trials, In the influenza A prophylaxis studies, 15% of 61 za namivir recipients versus 61% of 33 placebo recipients showed signific ant MEP abnormalities (P < .01). In the influenza A early treatment tr ial, 32% of 31 infected zanamivir recipients versus 73% of 26 infected placebo recipients developed MEP abnormalities (P < .01), In the infl uenza B prophylaxis trial, 16% of 25 zanamivir versus 44% of 9 placebo recipients showed abnormalities (P = .09), These findings indicate th at the neuraminidase inhibitor zanamivir, which is effective in reduci ng experimental influenza illness, provides protection against the dev elopment of MEP abnormalities,.