[BBC News] Anti-viral drugs arrive on island

[Newsbot]

The first delivery of drugs to help treat swine flu arrive in the Isle of Man, the government announces.

 

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/8152153.stm

[bluemonday]

The island has seven confirmed cases and is still trying to contain the virus, rather than moving to a "treatment phase", like the UK.

 

Perhaps a 'Scheme of arrangement' might help delay everything.

 

The first batch of anti-viral drug Zanamivir has been delivered, with further stocks expected.

 

For sale - large stock of Tamiflu - contact IOM gov.

[Digga]

So it will not stop you getting Swine flu but stop you from pasing it on to someone else,

 

Limitations

Zanamivir proved to be a potent and effective inhibitor of influenza neuraminidase. It works by binding to the active site of the neuraminidase protein, rendering the influenza virus unable to escape its host cell and infect others (David Cyranoski, 2005). It is also an inhibitor of influenza virus replication in vitro and in vivo. In clinical trials it was found that zanamivir was able to reduce the time to symptom resolution by 1.5 days if therapy was started within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms.

 

Relenza is a safe and effective treatment for influenza, but must be administered soon after the first symptoms appear. Six to 18 hours is ideal. In most countries the drug can only be obtained with a doctor's prescription, and usually the time taken to get a prescription renders them ineffective (Professor Graeme Laver,2007).

 

A further limitation is the poor oral bioavailability of zanamivir. This means that oral dosing is ineffective, limiting dosing to the inhaled route. This restricts its usage, as treating asthmatics could induce bronchospasm (F.G. Hayden, 2001). The FDA has issued a Public Health Advisory warning that it has received some reports of respiratory problems following inhalation of Relenza by patients with underlying asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The Relenza package insert contains precautionary information regarding risk of bronchospasm in patients with respiratory disease. [4]

[Dave Hedgehog]

I'll leave the fight to my immune syatem thanks

[Cresta Fiesta]

I'll leave the fight to my immune syatem thanks

 

Says someone who doesn't have swine flu.

[VinnieK]

So it will not stop you getting Swine flu but stop you from pasing it on to someone else,

 

That's not entirely what the passage says. Influenza thrives by replicating itself hundreds of times within a given cell in your body. Eventually the cell is destroyed and these copies spread to other cells in the body and repeat the process, thus causing more and more damage. What that particular drug does is stop the virus from spreading like this, and slows down the rate at which it replicates, making it harder to survive in the body. It doesn't stop you getting it, but it does treat it and limit the damage caused by the virus. I think you can still pass it on to others though.

 

The limitations in the passage refers to is the relatively short time frame after displaying symptoms during which the drug has to be administered to be effective.

[La_Dolce_Vita]

I have asked this before, though I didn't get a reply, maybe nobody knew. From what I have read about Tamiflu around the time of when the Avian Flu scare exploded - a lot of medical opinion and academic opinion was that Tamiflu is not a particularly effective anti-viral drug. It does work but only at the very onset of symptoms to reduce the severity, but it is not much good for anything else.

 

Does it really make much sense to buy massive stocks of the stuff?

[alibaba]

The first delivery of drugs to help treat swine flu arrive in the Isle of Man, the government announces.

 

WOO HOO! We're saved!

[VinnieK]

It does work but only at the very onset of symptoms to reduce the severity, but it is not much good for anything else.

 

I dunno about the effectiveness of Tamiflu itself, but that's all any antiviral does. A virus is just a self-replicating arrangement of genes and protein that inhabit a cell and use it as material from which to create copies of itself. An antiviral drug inhibits replication whilst the body's own defences get cracking on eliminating infected cells, it can't actually target and eliminate the virus itself. Any such drug is going to be less effective the longer symptoms are present (even at the onset of symptoms it means the virus is present throughout the body), since there are many more copies of the virus causing mayhem which have to be suppressed.

 

Does it really make much sense to buy massive stocks of the stuff?

 

Well it means people can be treated, particularly those who are especially vulnerable and who may die as a result of contracting the virus. Apart from that and without crazy hollywood quarantine scenarios, the best that can be hoped for of antivirals is that they slow the progress of infection, and even then you have to be cautious administering them in case the virus develops a resistance.

[Hermes]

Actually, these drugs only give an approximately 7% reduction in rate of infection against influenza when used as a preventative ('prophylaxis'). Here is a link to a relevant scientific paper:

http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/influenza_r...ch_briefing.htm

 

That aint much! Read the article and you can actually see that there is only limited evidence in regard to use of these drugs in general! When you consider how many billions are being spent on the drugs, this is frightening.

 

Based on the limited evidence, the drugs are only usually recognised as appropriate for treating 'high risk' individuals, or where there is a 'high risk' from the type of influenza being dealt with. The suggestion is that everyone with 'flu-like' symptoms must be given an anti-flu drug: A worrying precedent that serves only the makers of these drugs, and possibly covers the embarassment of those who prematurely activated the plan designed for a serious pandemic, and bought so many unproven drugs.

 

Unfortunately, the Public Health doctors at the DHSS are using these drugs when there is no evidence of need, based on current medical and scientific understanding. The drugs are not proven or licensed for controlling pandemic influenza, yet they have been used. Hopefully the people told they need to take the drugs were given the latest evidence, and told of the experimental nature of their use. I gather that at least 50 doses of Tamiflu have been handed out, probably many more by now.

 

It is starting to appear that our public officials have ditched science and guarded assessment of cases and actual risks, and have joined the hysteria gravy train that started with the WHO (which admits openly that it is working as a partner with the drug companies making anti-flu drugs) and has cascaded down and corrupted the common sense of so many.

 

Why arent more people questioning the WHO and the government's response? People are frightened and seem to blindly accept what they are told by officials. Take a few steps back and you can see that the WHO was in charge of a global flu pandemic plan which involved huge government spending on drugs and vaccines. It activated the plan, based on seeing a new flu virus, but without bothering to collect the relevant 'epidemiological' data of actual clinical problems caused by this disease. The outcome so far is that there was a mismatch! The plan and massive spending should have been in response to an actual serious threat, not a 'Well, you never know - it might be bad'... The news documents the gradual climbdown, continuously balanced with these 'what if' scare stories.

 

An even more pertinent question should be: Is the plan to use the drugs actually to ameliorate the economic impact of flu, which might impede the recovery of a recession? So far, the evidence certainly suggests this ought at least to be considered.

[thebees]

Side effects Causes increased risk of self harm...like suicide - yeah sounds like a great buy.

[Matt Bawden]

For feck sake don't let certain people read about your stances against anti-viral drugs or vaccinations or they'll think you're bonkers, apparently we should obey the world health organization, our governement, our gp's and the drug companies, then we shall all be saved...hallelujah!!!!! Praise the experts

[Miss Take]

For feck sake don't let certain people read about your stances against anti-viral drugs or vaccinations or they'll think you're bonkers, apparently we should obey the world health organization, our governement, our gp's and the drug companies, then we shall all be saved...hallelujah!!!!! Praise the experts

 

Do you even understand what the word expert means?

[Slim]

Side effects Causes increased risk of self harm...like suicide - yeah sounds like a great buy.

 

On the plus side, you won't be dead.

 

Anti virals arn't ideal, as Vinniek says, but they're all there is until a vaccine is available. I also think handing them out like sweets when someone sneezes is a bit daft, but it's a strategy that was probably worth a try in the early stages.

 

The paper linked was interesting, but it's a very limited sample set, and crucially doesn't include mortality rates.

[Moghrey Mie]

The first delivery of drugs to help treat swine flu arrive in the Isle of Man, the government announces.

 

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/8152153.stm

 

 

 

That's strange. The front page of the Guardian 15/7/09 says "Swine flu vaccine still months away'

 

WHO director Dr Margaret Chan said, ' There's no vaccine. One should be avaliable soon, in August.'

 

 

Trials of preliminary batches of what they hope will be an effective jab have only begun in the last fortnight.