Tamaflu
Tamaflu, scientifically called as the oseltamivir, belongs to the class of neuraminidase substance, the medication that effectively combats flu. While this medication is used to treat both the influenza A and the influenza B variants, it is a prescription medicine that can be used to treat flu or to get rid of flu when symptoms are visible.
In order to understand ‘what is Tamiflu’ completely, it is imperative that you understand the factors that distinguish this medication from flue vaccines. Tamilflu aids the immunity system of the human body to fight against the virus that causes flu whereas the vaccination is a shot of inactive flue virus injected into the human body to induce the immune system to develop antibodies that have the ability to fight against the disease.
Birdflu and Tamaflu
The demand for Tamaflu has elevated in the past few years due to a couple of reasons, the first factor being the scarcity that arose for flu vaccines in the year 2005. This in turn led to the injection of flu shots only to those who were considered more vulnerable. The second factor arose from the suspicion that persisted in the US regarding a possible eruption of bird flu in spite of the fact that bird flu is not the same as human flu. This further forced many hospitals to hoard supplies of the medication to cater to the suspected impending outbreak.
Bird flu is comparatively less contagious and needs intent physical contact for spreading. However, human-animal interaction with such intimacy across the world is minimal. As such, the possibility of bird flu transmission in human is minimal.
However, individuals infected by human flue are prone to the bird flu infection. In such scenarios, there is a very good chance that the two viruses can share the genes and could induce the spread of a deadlier version of human flu. The question on ‘what is Tamiflu’ can again be answered in this scenario since this medication has testified that it would combat the spread of such an infections practically. This further resulted in the inexplicable demand for Tamilflu. Bird flue is caused by the H1N1 virus, this virus is believed to be similar to the virus causing the Spanish flu that took a toll of peoples’ life in the 1900s.
Tamaflu’s main constituent is shikimic acid, which is prepared from the pine, spruce and fir trees. Biolyse Pharma Corporation is involved in the production of tons of Biolyse Pharma Corp. acid while F. Hoffman La-Roche Ltd., a Switzerland based drug manufacturer, has enormous hold in the production of Tamilflu today.
Though vaccines are the best panacea to treat influenza, the absence of vaccination to treat bird flue had resulted in the ever increasing demand for Tamiflu. This demand for Tamiflu needs to be catered till there is a further innovation in the field of bird flu vaccine in reality.
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