Acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) are some of the most widely spread diseases worldwide that are of 80% of economic cost of infectious diseases. It is known that specific prophylaxis (vaccination) and, in some clinical cases, direct-acting antiviral prophylaxis are key strategies for the prevention of influenza as one of the most dangerous ARVI viruses. However, there are a number of reasons why specific prophylaxis of influenza does not entirely address the issue of prophylaxis of ARVI that are caused by more than 200 different viruses, such as formation of immune response only to vaccine influenza strains and absence of immune response to other respiratory infections, induction in the case of short-term protection, especially, in the aged and others. Prevention of influenza with antiviral drugs is limited by risks of development of resistant influenza strains aa well as contraindications and limitations of use. Therefore, the use of nonspecific drugs such as broad-spectrum antiviral drugs of interferon type (IFN) and their inducers (II), as well as sanitary and hygienic measures is recommended for prevention. For the purpose of prevention, the use of inducers of endogenic interferons is relevant in unvaccinated persons during pre-epidemic and epidemic ARVI periods; in high-risk group (students, medical professions, transport workers, elderly, patients with comorbid pathologies, people in structured organizations, for example, military personnel), in immunocompromised people. One of the most extensively studied interferon inducers widely used in clinical practice since 2003 for prevention and treatment of influenza and diseases caused by Herpesviruses is an antiviral drug Kagocel®. The paper presents real-time data of the preventive efficacy of Kagocel® in the therapy of acute respiratory viral infections and influenza caused by different viral strains including pandemic ones.
