Dr Nick

If you want an unbiased assessment of what Tamiflu does go here:

http://www.emea.europa.eu/humandocs/...lu/tamiflu.htm

This is the European Medicines Agency website. The agency that approves (or not) medicines for the EU.

Anything else you read is either a regurgitation of this informaiton, or is likely biased in some way based on the agenda of the author

For those too lazy to check it out: Tamiflu has been shown to reduce the flu from about 5.2 to about 4.2 days duration if treatment is started within 48 hrs. But the data is based on mainly influenza A and not the current strain.

However, and these are my words not the EMEAs, it is not certain that you would get the same results for this new strain. It could work better or worse.

In my opinion the benefit of this drug is modest vs what is also IMO a modest adverse event profile. And no doubt its not cheap. Look at this from the government's perspective though and you can see why they are handing it out like sweeties. They have to be seen to be doing something because:
1. Otherwise the press will take the line that this pandemic is "uncurable" and then the line that the government doesn't care/ is helpless bla bla...
2. Afterwards the relatives of those unlucky few who die make a class action against the government for inactivity

One might conclude from the above that the use of this drug is therefore more politically motivated that based on a clinical justification?

To comment on the original point you can't hide from this disease unless you go to the moon. And when you come back it will be waiting and could be a worse or milder strain.

I am glad that my youngest child is now old enough to take antipyretic medicines and will now take no specific action to avoid or make contact with this disease. In time I expect to catch it if my son and I, who recently did have a flu like illness have not already done so. We will not seek to take Tamiflu.

I would offer two points of advice:

By some flu medicines now. Just the basics like paracetamol or ibuprofen to reduce temperature of those who catch it. You may well already have these. And if you do get it monitor the temperature closely. My basic understanding of how flu kills the vulnerable is that it raises the temperature to such an extent that proteins start to denature leading to major organ failure leading to death. Symptomatic treatment to reduce high temperature is therefore the way to go.

Do not buy Tamiflu off the internet. The guys who have been flogging fake Viagra for the last 10 years will have retooled by now and are churning out fake tamiflu like there's no tomorrow.

Basically dont worry!

Cheers

scrappydoo

Dr nick i hear what your saying but i wouldnt trust the EU medicines agency further than i could pee tbh or for that matter any emperical 'evidence' that spews forth out of it.