Monday, February 1, 2010

Tamiflu the Effective Preventive Medication for Influenza

What is influenza and how is it caused?

Influenza, also known as the flu, is a viral infection that primarily affects the respiratory tract. Its symptoms include fever, runny nose, stuffed up nose, fatigue, headache, cough, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, and achy muscles and joints. Not only is the flu contagious, it could become severe and even prove to be fatal if left untreated.

The flu is largely caused by three types of viruses, that is the influenza virus A, B and C. Type A is responsible for the deadly influenza pandemics while type B causes less significant, more localized outbreaks. Meanwhile, type C is less common and causes only mild symptoms. Capable of passing from person to person by airborne transmission (i.e., sneezing or coughing), the virus is also known to survive on objects for a short period of time. Therefore, influenza can spread through touch too. Moreover, the influenza virus can also spread by inhaling droplets that have been coughed or sneezed out by an infected person or by coming in direct contact with an infected person’s secretions.

Is Tamiflu an effective antiviral drug for Bird Flu?

Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) the drug in use, blocks the influenza virus from spreading between the body cells. As a consequence, this antiviral drug is used in the treatment and prophylaxis of both Influenza virus A and B infections. Oseltamivir, a neuraminidase inhibitor, first and foremost acts as a transition-state analogue inhibitor of influenza neuraminidase, preventing progeny versions from becoming detached from infected cells.

The first orally active neuraminidase inhibitor to be commercially developed, Tamiflu (Oseltamivir), is a prodrug that is hydrolysed hepatically to active metabolites. Developed by US-based Gilead Sciences and currently being marketed by Hoffmann–La Roche (Roche) under the trade name Tamiflu, this drug is generally available by prescription only.

Why Tamiflu?

It is essential to Buy Tamiflu because:

* It is recommended for use during infections with flu viruses A and B
* It eases various ailments like weakness, cough, headache, fever, sore throat that accompany the flu affliction
* It can prevent the onset of flu even when the patient has been exposed to the virus

Oseltamivir, a neuraminidase inhibitor, serves as an aggressive inhibitor for sialic acid that is found on the surface proteins of normal host cells; Tamiflu, in fact, prevents new viral particles from being released by infected cells.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Tamiflu For Flu - Using Tamiflu To Treat Human Influenza Virus

TAMIFLU FOR FLU

If I start telling you that Tamiflu is for the flu, then it would not justify the cause of what Tamiflu is or what is the flu. So it will only be just that I start telling you what the flu is, what the types that are prevalent and then I will cover its symptoms. This will be followed by what is Tamiflu and what is it used for. This in itself will tell you that “Tamiflu is for the flu”.

The Flu

The flu is an infectious disease caused by the viruses. The viruses those are responsible for this are of the two protein types. They are the H protein and the N protein. The H stands for the protein Hem agglutinin and the N stands for the protein Neuraminidase. There are different sub types in these. These sub types are formed by either as a combination of the H and the N factors or they are in their pure forms of the Hem agglutinin or the Neuraminidase. These protein forms are responsible for various epidemics in different parts of the world, as they are the basic cause of the influenza.

Types of Avian Virus

The influenzas caused by these viruses are the type “A” influenza, the type “B” influenza or the type “C” influenza. Some of these viruses are found only and infects only birds. That is, they mutate and develop only in birds and hence they are called the avian type of viruses. These avian types sometimes also infect humans, pigs and some of the species of mammals. They are trying to find a new host by infecting the humans or pigs or weasels. When they find a new host they develop with the body of the host and mutate in to a new strain. These strains may be harmful or may not bother anyone depending in to the strain in which they develop.

Some of the famous epidemic has been caused by these viruses. The H1N1 had caused wide spread mortality to the human species in the year 1981 and took on the name of the “Spanish influenza”. Other such epidemics were “The Asian Influenza” and the “Hong Kong Influenza”. These events took place in the year 1957 and 1968 respectively.

Tamiflu for Flu

In the recent years medications has come out to stop the culture of the virus in the human body. The most used and prescribed medicine among them being the Tamiflu. Tamiflu works in a way whereby it stops the infection at its source. This not only helps in bringing down the symptoms of the flu but helps in completely eradicating the flu.

Some other medications were also developed for the flu but were not that helpful. Amantadine and Rimantdine were the medications that were used in the earlier years. However they could find that these medicines in the form of tablets were effective only against the type “A” influenza. In the later years, new medicines like Oseltamivir and Zanamivir were developed. They were developed under the trade names Tamiflu and Relenza respectively.

However, Relenza could not prove its mettle on the patient, this being an inhalation medicine. The reasons were patients suffering from asthma and other acute respiratory disorders could not take this medicine as it has proved fatal for these patients in many cases. The use of Relenza was justified to the effect that, if the patient needed it badly enough then he has to take the risk between dying of influenza and trying to take a cure with Relenza.

Now when all this was studied, it was found that there was no better medication than the Tamiflu for the flu.

Learn more about human and avian flu viruses, and how Tamiflu can protect you and your family from possible death. This site also offers information on the flu viruses, symptoms, and how to prepare for the threat of a flu pandemic.

Tamiflu - You've Got 48 Hours To Stop The Flu

When I say, “You’ve got forty eight hours” don’t get me all wrong. These forty eight hours refers to the time that you should act when you show up with the symptoms of bird flu. Now that you would like to know what bird flu is; I’ll have to go back a bit on the details. Bird flu is a disease given to birds, cats, other species of animals and also humans by the virus strain H5N1. This causes the influenza of type A. The types of Influenza are the type “A” influenza, the type “B” influenza and the type “C” influenza. The type “B” and type “C” influenza are not considered to be that dangerous as they show up only in some species and have very little symptoms in human beings. Type “A” influenza is the most dangerous among the influenzas and they have caused problems of varying proportions like the epidemic of 1918 which is reported to have caused the death of about 20 million people around the world.

The viruses that cause these problems are the H and the N strains of the virus. The H and the N stands for hem agglutinin and Neuramidase respectively. Now there are sixteen strains of the virus of the H form and nine strains of the virus in the N form. A combination of these two strains would alone create up to two hundred and fifty six strains of the virus. Not all strains are considered dangerous. They mutate in to a new form as and when they get in to a host body. The form that accounted for the epidemic of 1918 was the H1N1 strain.

Now the H5N1 strain is causing problems to the human population and the bird population. This strain is also called as the avian strain. This strain of the virus jumps from the bird or an animal host on to the human beings. When they infect the human beings the human beings show up a variety of symptoms. The symptoms of influenza are it starts of with a sore throat with a follow up of body pain. You may experience high fever and dizziness. This is when you may consult your doctor. If you have been diagnosed with bird flu after studying where you have been exposed and your required sample tests, you will be started on the drug.

For the drug Tamiflu to give you full effect it should be diagnosed within forty eight hours of you showing up the symptoms. This has prompted the caption in the first line. Any way starting off with Tamiflu is not the end of your problems. You got to follow the required dosages of the medication.

Tamiflu comes in a suspension form of the medicine and a capsule form of the medicine. The capsule form of the medicine contains seventy five grams of the active drug. If you are having the influenza in the first case you are told to take one capsule of seventy five grams in the morning and one capsule of seventy five grams in the evenings. You are required to follow this routine for a period of five days. If you have been diagnosed with a problem for the kidneys and are undergoing treatment for the same, then you should take only one tablet a day. The above dosage that I have given you is for adults, adults over the age of thirteen.

For children the dosage is a bit different. For children you are supposed to give the medicine which is available in the suspension form. The amount to be administered is pre-calculated by the weight of the child. For children who are less than 33 pounds the recommended dosage is thirty milligram. For children weighing between thirty three pounds to forty pounds the dosages is forty five milligrams. For children in the weight group of 51 to 88 pounds the dosage is sixty milligrams. And for children weighing above 88 pounds the dosage is 75 milligrams.

Learn more about the human and bird flu viruses, and how Tamiflu can protect you and your family from death when the pandemic begins to spread exponentially across the globe. This free discussion forum also offers information on the flu viruses, symptoms, and how to prepare for the threat of a flu pandemic.