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HOW IS SWINE FLU TREATED H1N1

Posted by Admin on Sunday, December 13, 2009 - 03:40 AM

Swine flu is a fast mover, if one person is infected inside a household it is very probable that others will follow. Anti-viral medication can be used make the patient comfortable and speed up his or her recovery but they really don’t cure the flu. Swine Influenza is much like the flu we get during the cold and rainy seasons, you may take medication but this will only make you feel better, it will not “cure” you. The best thing you can do is keep the patient comfortable and take care of his aches and pains.

Antiviral medication will also help you prevent further complications caused by the virus. They will stop the virus from making you feel worst but they will not kill it or make it go away. The antibodies your body creates take care of this. Once the virus disappears you have the advantage that your body has already created the antibody necessary to eliminate that particular strain if it tries to infect you again.

Weather at home or at the hospital the only thing you can do is give the patient support and make him or her comfortable. Give him medication to control his fever, plenty of liquids to substitute those lost through vomit and perspiration do to fever and the most important and relevant to the patient, controlling the pain in his head and joints.

Special attention must be given to the possibility of the patient getting other secondary disease related to the swine influenza virus. The body is weakened by fever and the fight against the virus so it is left vulnerable to other disease such as bronchitis and other medical problems.

Infected patients are treated with Tamiflu or Ralenza, these two medications are recommended by the US Center of Disease Control and Prevention. But most people infected by the swine influenza virus all over the world have made a full recovery without the need of any medication directly aimed at the virus itself. In general it is not the virus itself you must watch but other infections and diseases that can take advantage of the weakness suffered by your body that can really make you sick. Influenza does not kill you, it weakens you so other diseases can take advantage of this.

During the swine influenza epidemic in 2009 it was necessary to authorize the use of antiviral drugs on children, and women for whom it was not intended originally. In fact , not only was treatment distributed to people who were not authorized or tested with it, but many of those distributing this medication were volunteers and untrained personnel. These drugs are the two mentioned above, because amantadine and rimantadime, which were used in the Philippines outbreak in 2007 produced no results. From the year 2007 to the year 2009 the virus had developed a resistance towards these medications and they proved useless. It is well known in the scientific community and by world epidemic experts that the capabilities of mutation and the ability to create defense against medication in the viruses are infinite and fast.