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Bird
Flu Pandemic
Tamiflu
In a bird flu
pandemic tamiflu may not be as effective as authorities hope
says prominent Australian health writer Andrew Cavanagh.
Many countries like the USA are stockpiling tamiflu in preparation for
a bird flu pandemic.
Members of the public are buying up tamiflu for their own personal bird
flu protection.
But Cavanagh says until the bird flu mutates to a human to human virus
we can't be certain that tamiflu will be effective against the bird flu
virus.
And the latest signs are not good...
In an unsettling development for health authorities tamilflu resistant
strains of the bird flu are appearing.
A vietnamese girl diagnosed with bird flu with a tamiflu resistant
strain of bird flu.
Fortunately she survived after being treated with Relenza –
another antiviral drug.
In China the bird flu strain H5N1 is showing around 70% resistance to
adamantane drugs like Tamiflu.
William Chui from the Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong said viral
resistance to tamiflu was growing in Japan where doctors commonly
prescribe the drug for influenza.
It's also important to note that Tamiflu and other anti viral drugs
don't stop the bird flu from entering your body – they fight
the virus once it is already inside your body.
Tamiflu works by stopping the virus from bursting out of infected cells
in your body.
It does this by inhibiting an enzyme called neuraminidase on the
surface of the virus cells.
This can help stop viruses like the bird flu infecting other cells in
your body and also possibly reduce the chance that you'll infect other
people.
To be effective you need to take tamiflu within 48 hours of becoming
ill.
But if a bird flu strain is resistant to the drug then tamiflu may not
be the answer to a bird flu pandemic.
Cavanagh says it pays to be prepared and the first preparation is
paying attention to personal hygiene.
He says around 90% of respiratory viruses like the bird flu, the common
cold and influenza that enter our bodies get there when we touch the
mucous membranes of our eyes and nose with our fingernails.
So hand washing really is the first line of defense against a bird flu
pandemic - not tamiflu.
But Cavanagh warns that washing
your hands is more complex than it might seem on the surface.
You need to use the right kinds of soap and if you can't use soap
there's only one alternative that's proven by the USA Centers Of
Disease Control to be effective and it's NOT an antibacterial solution.
Cavanagh
is giving away a free report How
To Prevent Bird Flu with more information on how to use hand
washing and other simple hygiene measures to protect yourself against
the bird flu, SARS, the common cold, influenza and more at www.howtopreventbirdflu.com
You can learn more about the bird
flu pandemic and tamiflu at http://tamiflupandemic.flu-bird.com
For more on the bird flu, see the news updates on our
homepage Latest Bird Flu News
and news from the wires on Bird
Flu News
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