Can Statins Help Prevent Flu Death?

This might be the one time that having high cholesterol works to your favor.

An Oregon Public Health Division study of 2,800 patients during the 2007-'08 flu season found that people who were taking statins to manage cholesterol were twice as likely to survive the flu than those who weren't taking the drugs.

The reason? A lot of damage caused by the flu comes from inflammation, a condition that statins have long been known to reduce.

The report went so far as to suggest that statins might be a good treatment for influenza, and one that could be less expensive than treatments like Tamiflu.

The study was presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. The meeting was held October 29-November 1 in Philadelphia.