As someone who had one of the products mentioned here, the side effects were not slight, and to be honest more annoying than the flu itself. We only received the medication (here in the UK) because at the time there was the fear of an outbreak of avian or swine flu, and the idea at the time was to head things off.
I think even if they do show any effectiveness in longer term trials (didn't do much for me personally), I would be wary of seeing them widely used, as it seems they should be targeted mostly at those individuals with compromised immune systems, or perhaps in the future, those individuals identified as having a genetic makeup that could aid and abet a flu related fatality.
Why the CDC and FDA Are Telling You Two Different Things About Flu Drugs
11–20 of 26 posts
Re: Why the CDC and FDA Are Telling You Two Different Things About Flu Drugs
#12>The CDC released figures Thursday showing that this season’s influenza vaccine is only about 23 percent effective Yikes, is it normally that low? I looked up a quick figure for 2013, and it was 60% effectiveness.
It's not normally that ineffective. There has been some "drift" which is expected. It's not as bad as the 2009(?) swine flu outbreak.
Re: Why the CDC and FDA Are Telling You Two Different Things About Flu Drugs
#13Isn't this the same old story, as written about by Ben Goldacre for instance, over and over again? Pharma sees money ( everyone gets the flu), tries to come up with something, sort of fails, yet still wants money and somehow manages to push through via official channels and gets a new drug of which the effects are rather questionable into the stores, earns money.
no this is selfish peopel who didnt get the jab in time wanting somthing after the fact.
Oh dear did I upset little timmy the vaxer - I HAVE to have the job (plus a load of other ones) for medical resons and its muppets liek you that don't proactivly care of your health which impacts me diretly and damages heard imunity.
Re: Why the CDC and FDA Are Telling You Two Different Things About Flu Drugs
#14Tamiflu is $130? I was prescribed Tamiflu last year and a course cost me 1/3rd of that at the first drug store I walked into. I'm in Australia. Can't say if it really worked or not.
The government most likely paid the other two thirds via PBS.
Re: Why the CDC and FDA Are Telling You Two Different Things About Flu Drugs
#15>The CDC released figures Thursday showing that this season’s influenza vaccine is only about 23 percent effective Yikes, is it normally that low? I looked up a quick figure for 2013, and it was 60% effectiveness.
It's not normally that ineffective. There has been some "drift" which is expected. It's not as bad as the 2009(?) swine flu outbreak.
2009 is correct. Thanks for pointing out the concept that the efficacy of these drugs changes due to the mutations of the virus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic_H1N1/09_virus#Nomencla...
Re: Why the CDC and FDA Are Telling You Two Different Things About Flu Drugs
#16This is a great article. I say this as a physician and someone just today returning to work after having been out all week with the flu.
I weigh the evidence similarly to Cochrane/FDA. Though I was aware I had the flu within ~12-24h, I did not elect to take Tamiflu. This is both because I currently have no comorbidities, but also because the side effect profile is quite real. People really do sometimes add nausea and vomiting to their list of flu symptoms because they take these medications.
In the inpatient setting I offer Tamiflu to anyone sick enough to be hospitalized, and I am happy to offer it to outpatients with the flu as well if they understand the potential side effects, but it's definitely not a clear winner.
Re: Why the CDC and FDA Are Telling You Two Different Things About Flu Drugs
#17>The CDC released figures Thursday showing that this season’s influenza vaccine is only about 23 percent effective Yikes, is it normally that low? I looked up a quick figure for 2013, and it was 60% effectiveness.
As of 2015 "Week 1" ending Jan 10th (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/), almost all the flu tested is type A, almost all of that that is further tested is H3N2, and of those further tested, 35% responds well to the Northern hemisphere vaccine, 65% does not.
What's annoying is that of the 65% that's further tested, it's a good match for the vaccine we're preparing for the 2015 Southern Hemisphere vaccine. So the public health types were on the ball, just not quite fast enough, especially given the very long lead time required for the current major egg based vaccine (both to develop new seed strains that'll grow well in eggs, and then production).
Ah, well, it's a good time for introverts like myself to practice "social distancing", made a lot less onerous by the net. My father mentioned a couple of days ago that the local Catholic high school, wiped out by a tornado in 2011 and finally reopened in its new permanent building for this semester, elected to close and disinfect after not very many days, so many students had or were coming down with the flu.
Re: Why the CDC and FDA Are Telling You Two Different Things About Flu Drugs
#18Isn't this the same old story, as written about by Ben Goldacre for instance, over and over again? Pharma sees money ( everyone gets the flu), tries to come up with something, sort of fails, yet still wants money and somehow manages to push through via official channels and gets a new drug of which the effects are rather questionable into the stores, earns money.
no this is selfish peopel who didnt get the jab in time wanting somthing after the fact.
In case you hadn't noticed, the jab this year protects against the wrong strain. Again.
Re: Why the CDC and FDA Are Telling You Two Different Things About Flu Drugs
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
no this is selfish peopel who didnt get the jab in time wanting somthing after the fact.
Oh dear did I upset little timmy the vaxer - I HAVE to have the job (plus a load of other ones) for medical resons and its muppets liek you that don't proactivly care of your health which impacts me diretly and damages heard imunity.
Given that you're discussing inconsistency in what medical experts are saying it would benefit everyone if people like both of you just shut up and let people make their own decisions.
Re: Why the CDC and FDA Are Telling You Two Different Things About Flu Drugs
#20Isn't this the same old story, as written about by Ben Goldacre for instance, over and over again? Pharma sees money ( everyone gets the flu), tries to come up with something, sort of fails, yet still wants money and somehow manages to push through via official channels and gets a new drug of which the effects are rather questionable into the stores, earns money.
no this is selfish peopel who didnt get the jab in time wanting somthing after the fact.
Interestingly enough, this article isn't about vaccinations.