Published: December 14, 2011
Statins Saving Flu Patients - Story is Nothing New
By John McCormick 
The inexpensive statin drugs which are often prescribed to lower cholesterol have recently been shown to produce a dramatic reduction in deaths from serious influenza infections.
But this is actually nothing new to regular readers of Newsblaze.
In another story back in 2009 I reported on the same subject, "Statins Effective in Preventing Some H1N1 Deaths".
The mechanism is likely a general reduction in inflammation because that is often the cause of death in the flu.
(See my Newsblaze article Why Does Swine Flu Kill Healthy People? for information related to the cytokine storm which can overwhelm the body when a healthy person's immune system reacts to the flu.)
Still, the newest confirmation should help persuade some more individuals to take statins on a regular basis, especially since it doesn't appear to do any good to take them just in flu season.
John McCormick is a reporter, /science/medical columnist and finance and social commentator, with 17,000+ bylined stories. Contact John through NewsBlaze.
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