Word: tamiflu
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...vaccines. Bush's plan was never fully funded; $870 million for flu-pandemic preparedness was actually dropped from the stimulus bill earlier this year. Still, it allowed the CDC to send diagnostic tests to labs around the country to track the flu's spread, while 11 million courses of Tamiflu were made available. "We are seeing a much more clear and cogent response than in the past," says Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations...
...always on alert now: the threat level is forever orange; the Internet fizzes with warnings and advice. This time, thousands of students stayed home from school in Texas, disrupting a day of standardized state tests, while in New York City, pharmacies reported a run on Tamiflu...
...antivirals work? If administered soon after symptoms appear, antivirals Oseltamivir and Zanamivir (brand names Tamiflu and Relenza) are believed to reduce the severity and shorten the duration of the disease by current strain of swine flu. The drugs work by inhibiting an enyzme chemical helper that the flu virus uses to spread from infected human cells to healthy ones. So while not killing the virus, it helps the body fight off the disease by slowing its spread. This, in turn, may help prevent "acute respiratory distress syndrome" - the sudden worsening of flu that, along with secondary lung infections...
...there is very little reason for anyone outside Mexico to be worried about their health. There are relatively few cases in the U.S. and other infected countries outside Mexico, and none of those cases have been serious. The virus appears to be vulnerable to antiviral drugs like Tamiflu, and thanks to global pandemic preparations since the SARS epidemic of 2003 and last year's flu outbreak in Hong Kong, the U.S. and other developed countries maintain large stockpiles of the drug. "We are seeing a much more clear and cogent response than in the past," said Laurie Garrett, senior fellow...
...Hong Kong University's Peiris says. Now the situation has greatly improved, he adds, with infection-control policies that minimize unnecessary movement of people in and out of hospitals. Currently, the government has 1,400 beds available for infectious-disease patients and 20 million doses of antiflu medication - including Tamiflu and Relenza - according to Food and Health Undersecretary Leung...