Oseltamivir prophylaxis reduces inflammation-induced morbidity while maintaining establishment of functional cross-strain protective CD8⁺ T cell memory pools.

<p>Oseltamivir prophylaxis of influenza virus-infected mice results in reduced recruitment of innate cells to the airways and this correlates with a reduced cytokine/chemokine inflammatory milieu. In addition, oseltamivir treatment reduced, the magnitude of influenza-specific effector CD8⁺ T cell responses. However, functional memory CD8⁺ T cell pools were established effectively in oseltamivir-treated mice, and these cells could elicit recall responses of similar magnitude and quality to those generated in PBS-treated control animals. This provides evidence that long-term memory T cells can be generated during an oseltamivir-interrupted infection.