Swine flu vaccine

The swine flu vaccine was recently developed to help protect the public against swine flu. There is pandemonium about the swine flu vaccine and everyone is rushing to get it. The question is does it work?

There are several brands of the swine flu vaccine on the market but by and large they all work in the same way- increase the body’s immunity to the virus
Up until now pregnant women, the elderly and young children were first offered the vaccine as they appeared to be at a higher risk for developing complications from the virus infection. This vaccine is not meant to be a replacement for the seasonal flu vaccine and some people may need both vaccines.

Some versions the flu vaccine have to be administered twice 2-3 weeks apart but now there is evidence that a single shot of the vaccine may be enough to boost immunity
Experts say that the swine flu vaccine can reduce an individual’s chance of acquiring swine flu by 50-70 percent. While most people do develop antibodies after the vaccine, there are still some people who do get infected by the virus.

Vaccination is not a guarantee that you will be 100 % protected from the virus.
So far the vaccine has been deemed to be safe and the only side effects are burning at the injection site and mild pain. So far no major side effects have been reported after the swine flu vaccine. A few deaths have been reported but it is not known if this was from the swine flu infection or a component of the vaccine.
Beside the local side effects at the site of injection, there have been reports of headaches, swollen glands, fever and joint pain. However, all these effects are temporary and resolve in a few days

Individual who are allergic to eggs should not get the swine flu vaccine. For these individuals there is another brand of the swine flu vaccine made without the use of eggs.

There was concern that the swine flu vaccine may be a cause of temporary paralysis but experts feel that this side effect may be directly related to the infection and not the vaccine.

Everything about Tamiflu: Part 2

All consumers should understand that Tamiflu is not a cure for swine flu. It does reduce symptoms of the illness and duration of illness. When taken within the first 48 hours, some people tend to recover a lot faster when taking Tamiflu. Finally, one is less likely to develop complications of bronchitis, pneumonia and ear infections when taking Tamiflu.

There are suggestions that Tamiflu can help reduce complications of swine flu but there is no real hard evidence to show that as of yet.
In general Tamiflu is safe. It does have a few side effects of which the most common are nausea and vomiting.

Rare complications reported from Europe where the drug has been extensively used indicate that Tamiflu can also cause seizures, mood alterations, confusion and loss of concentration. One school report indicated that children given Tamiflu at the outbreak resulted in nearly 50 percent developing side effects ranging from nausea, stomach cramps and difficulty sleeping.

Everything about Tamiflu: Part 1

What is Tamiflu?

Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is a relatively new antiviral drug. It acts by stopping growth of the virus. Tamiflu works best when it is taken soon after symptoms of swine flu occur – within the first 48 hours. This is the time period when the virus is dividing fast. If the drug is delayed, the virus burden is quite high and the virus has most likely spread and Tamiflu does not work well.

Tamiflu is available as a capsule or liquid. It must be taken for 5 consecutive days when one develops an acute infection.

All adults and children can be treated with Tamiflu, but pregnant women and those individual with chronic kidney diseases should take the alternative anti viral drug known as Zanamir (Relenza).

To date the evidence for effectiveness of Tamiflu is nonexistent. There are not many studies are available which have studied the drug in detail. Some clinical studies show that it works very well for the common cold virus and isolated reports show that the drug is effective for most cases of swine flu when taken within the first 48 hours.

Moreover, there are ample laboratory studies which show that Tamiflu is effective against swine flu. However, there are also just as many reports indicating that the drug is not effective.