The flu is raging throughout america — and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention expect cases will remain high over the following few weeks.
“It’s uncontrolled,” mentioned Dr. Sean Liu, an affiliate professor of infectious illnesses on the Icahn Faculty of Drugs at Mount Sinai in New York Metropolis. The C.D.C. estimates that there have been at least 12 million flu infections up to now this season, resulting in 160,000 hospitalizations and 6,600 deaths.
Medical doctors continuously prescribe Tamiflu, an antiviral medicine, to people who find themselves at excessive danger of turning into significantly unwell from the flu. The drug can ease signs and assist individuals get well a bit quicker. However there’s a catch: The medicine works greatest if individuals take it quickly after they really feel sick, and it may be tough to decipher whether or not a pesky cough or sneeze is the flu or one other virus.
This flu season, nevertheless, new at-home speedy assessments can detect both Covid and the flu and might help you establish whether or not you must ask a health care provider about Tamiflu. Right here’s what else to know in regards to the drug.
How does Tamiflu work?
Tamiflu works in opposition to each influenza A and influenza B viruses. The drug, which will be taken as a liquid or a capsule, blocks the flu virus from spreading within the physique.
“It’s not a magical medicine,” mentioned Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious illness specialist at Vanderbilt College Medical Middle. “It doesn’t make you immediately higher, capable of leap tall buildings.” However the drug can pace up a affected person’s restoration by a couple of day, which can not sound like a lot, however can get individuals again to work or college extra rapidly.
And by limiting the unfold of flu virus in somebody’s physique, the drug may assist forestall an an infection from growing right into a extra extreme sickness like pneumonia, Dr. Schaffner mentioned.
It may be tough to measure simply how efficient Tamiflu is, although, partly as a result of many individuals get well from the flu on their very own, he added.
Researchers have debated whether or not Tamiflu prevents flu deaths or hospitalizations, for instance. However some evidence suggests that it could cut back the danger of demise amongst hospitalized adults, particularly when taken early.
Who ought to take Tamiflu?
Not everybody who comes down with the flu ought to take the drug. The C.D.C. recommends the medicine for people who find themselves at high risk for issues from the flu, which incorporates adults who’re 65 and older, kids youthful than 2, pregnant ladies and people who find themselves immunocompromised. The company additionally recommends the drug for sufferers with sure continual circumstances, like diabetes, bronchial asthma and lung and coronary heart illness.
Medical doctors additionally prescribe Tamiflu to people who find themselves hospitalized or very unwell from the flu. And so they generally give the medicine to everybody in a setting like a nursing residence, the place the virus can unfold quickly throughout an outbreak.
The C.D.C. recommends Tamiflu for anybody contaminated with avian influenza, also referred to as hen flu, and for individuals who have been uncovered to these contaminated with hen flu.
What are the negative effects?
It may be arduous to distinguish the negative effects of Tamiflu from signs of the flu itself. Roughly 10 to twenty % of sufferers who take the drug expertise nausea and vomiting, mentioned Dr. Sean O’Leary, a professor of pediatric infectious illnesses on the College of Colorado Faculty of Drugs.
There have been rare reports of side effects, together with hallucinations and delirium, amongst kids in Japan who took Tamiflu. However the flu itself may trigger these points, and medical doctors and well being companies have emphasised that Tamiflu is protected.
The drug “has been out for a very long time, and we’ve obtained a extremely good deal with on its security profile,” mentioned Dr. John Bradley, the medical director of infectious illnesses at Rady Youngsters’s Hospital-San Diego.
Are there different medication that deal with the flu?
The C.D.C. has advisable three different antiviral drugs to be used this flu season:
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Relenza, an inhaled drug for individuals 7 and older who don’t have bronchial asthma or different respiration points
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Rapivab, an intravenous drug for individuals 6 months and older
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Xofluza, a capsule for these 12 and older and for youngsters between the ages of 5 and 11 who don’t have any continual well being circumstances. The C.D.C. doesn’t advocate Xofluza for pregnant or breastfeeding ladies.
Medical doctors prescribe these medication much less usually, however they are often useful for sufferers who can not take Tamiflu, or helpful when Tamiflu isn’t obtainable. Some medical doctors could use Xofluza as a result of it’s a single dose.
Whereas vaccines don’t deal with the flu, medical doctors pressured {that a} flu shot provides precious safety and might cut back the danger of growing extreme signs and dying. It’s not too late to get a shot, Dr. O’Leary mentioned.
Given the selection between Tamiflu whenever you get sick, or a flu shot to forestall illness within the first place, “I might take the influenza vaccine 100 occasions out of 100,” Dr. O’Leary mentioned.
