I was just thinking about the current swine flu issue, and the mention of Tamiflu and decided to do a bit more reading.
Crikey; this is straight from Tamiflu's website.
Quote
"
TAMIFLU is prescribed for treating adults and children 1 year and older with influenza (flu) whose symptoms started within the last day or two. TAMIFLU can also reduce the chance of getting the flu in patients 1 year and older. TAMIFLU is not a substitute for the annual flu vaccinations (you should still get the flu shot every year).
Before taking TAMIFLU, tell your doctor if you are pregnant or nursing, or if you have kidney disease, heart disease, respiratory disease, or other serious health conditions. Also, let your doctor know if you are taking any other medications or if you have received nasally administered influenza virus vaccine during the past two weeks.
If you develop an allergic reaction or a severe rash, stop taking TAMIFLU and contact your healthcare professional immediately, as it may be very serious. People with the flu, particularly children and adolescents, may be at an increased risk of self injury and confusion shortly after taking TAMIFLU and should be closely monitored for signs of unusual behavior. A healthcare professional should be contacted immediately if the patient taking TAMIFLU shows any signs of unusual behavior.
The most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting."
Reads no worse than (probably better actually) the adverse reactions for many prescription drugs you'll encounter
I take it dpastern will be avoiding receiving any health care what so ever so as to ensure that nature balances things out.
Relenza was invented in Australia and it has no side effects. In fact you could eat a kilogram of it and suffer no more than an excess of sugar. Relenza is based on a sugar molecule with a few bits added that inhibits the Neuraminidase enzyme of all flu viruses. The Flu virus uses Neuraminidase to escape any cell it infects. Without it, it is stuck and your immune system does the rest.
Tamiflu is a 'me too drug' based on a Benzene molecule. The metabolic break down products of Tamiflu is what gives all the nasty side effects.
Flu virus can very quickly mutate to evade Tamiflu as it has a higher binding constant than the natural target molecule. It is almost impossible for the flu virus to evade Relenza as the binding constant is almost identical to the target molecule of Neuraminidase.
The real fear the authorities have is that we do not have any immunity in our human population to this so called swine flu as we have not been exposed to its combination of genes that code for the proteins that the immune system responds to.
The Spanish flu of 1918 was mild at first and the next year it killed 50 million people.
How do I know this? I worked in the laboratory that elucidated the three dimensional molecular structure of flu neuraminidase. It is this structure that led to the design of the molecule we now call Relenza. And later Tamiflu.
Just hope you get this flu before it becomes very nasty or if it does, at the first sign of symptoms take Relenza or Tamiflu if it still works.
The best we can hope for that this will fade out like all the usual flu's. We are in deep trouble if it becomes more virulent and a killer. The 1918 flu had a death rate of only 2%.
By all means tell jokes, but dont die from coughing and laughter!
If you are really interested here is a 12MB pdf that explains all
Reads no worse than (probably better actually) the adverse reactions for many prescription drugs you'll encounter
Just remember though - consumer medicines information is there to protect the pharmaceutical company, not the patient. It is the quintessential "I told you so".....
Reads no worse than (probably better actually) the adverse reactions for many prescription drugs you'll encounter
I take it dpastern will be avoiding receiving any health care what so ever so as to ensure that nature balances things out.
I rarely take anti biotics - the human body is remarkably resilient. As I said to my boss a week and a bit ago - if a virus mutates and becomes immune to our antibiotics, we're in some deep ****.
Bert thanks for that information, very interesting. Will read the paper when I have more time.
Dave, my understanding is that bacteria and viruses have different molecular and protein structures coupled with different mechanisms of infection; as a consequence antibiotics will have no effect on a virus anyway (the antibiotics prevent genesis of cell walls in the bacteria BUT viruses don't have cell walls, as far as I understand). So I guess it's code brown!!
Kerrie
Last edited by BerrieK; 01-06-2009 at 02:02 PM.
Reason: spelling gumby as usual
Dave, my understanding is that bacteria and viruses have different molecular and protein structures coupled with different mechanisms of infection; as a consequence antibiotics will have no effect on a virus anyway (the antibiotics prevent genesis of cell walls in the bacteria BUT viruses don't have cell walls, as far as I understand). So I guess it's code brown!
Your understanding is basically correct. There are anti-viral drugs, but these are very different to antibiotics.
hahaha, I like it! And a good riddance to Sol as well, may he never grace our shores again.
Kerrie & Lee - I'll take your word for it, I didn't do biology @ school. That being said, antibiotics aren't going to do a lot then if swine flu mutates and takes off, especially if no vaccine is in existence.
I wouldn't be surprised to see this virus mutate - it's nature. Some may have taken offence to my earlier comments, but I stand by them. This planet was not designed to support Six billion humans. It's only a matter of time before nature culls our numbers, like she has done for every other major species before us. If we're lucky, we won't end up extinct, and will mutate in some shape or form and grow as a species.
Let's consider the number of times man has interfered with nature and screwed things up royally - wild cactii in Australia, rabbits, cane toads, deer, camels just to name a few. We don't think, we simply act without thought and forceably impact upon every other species. Worse, we don't care (overall) as a species, we have a "it's our planet" attitude. Well, wake up guys, it's *not* our planet. We share it with billions of other species. The Australian Aboriginals and North American Red Indians had the right idea - they lived *with* the land, not against it.
Humans think that we're very smart, but we're not. One thing is apparent - the more we learn, the more we damage our planet. I pity people's grand children, or great grand children over the next 100 years as we continue to rape our planet's resources. Things like the swine flu, as much as they hurt loved ones, are simply a result of nature. Society has conditioned most people to think humans first, anything else last. It has conditioned us to rape our planet and think that it's OK. No one is perfect, I'm no better than the next person, but at least I recognise what our species is doing, as an overall whole, and that it isn't good. Changes need to be made, but unfortunately, the evil of money is what matters it seems...
But in the face of a pernicious disease process I would certainly make an informed decision (if in a state to do so) and take a drug prescribed to protect my life.
That said, everyone is an individual (yep, I hear thoughts surrounding group mentality and peer pressure here) and has the liberty of their own opinion. Good on you for sticking to your guns.
