Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
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Posted: May 06 2006 at 12:42pm |
I work in a profession that requires limited, but regular contact with residents all over the county I live in. More than likely, with the possible exception of my Son, I will be the first to be infected with H5N1 when it happens. At my age (52), I am assuming that I will recover, and have 3 courses of Tamiflu in stock. I believe we have several Physicians in the Forum, and would like to pose the following question: Assuming I get infected, and beat it, am I "safe" when I recover? Can I get reinfected? And second, should I put every one in residence with me, probably only my Son, on a prophalactic course of Tamiflu? Also, if it mutates again between "waves", is it likely that any immunity we have aquired from the first exposure do any good in the future?
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Frisky
Valued Member Joined: March 14 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 123 |
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Yes you will be safe from BF once you got it and were well.This would be like any other flu in this respect. Also like any other flu it will constantly mutate and after a substantial amount of "drift" you could get it again, but it should be much milder for two reasons. The first is that you will have partial immunity. The second is that as the virus mutates it should become a milder disease . As for prophylaxis I would avoid this unless there is a known isolated very high probability exposure and future exposures can be avoided. The best plan seems to be begin treatment immediately with the first symptoms. ER Doc
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It is better to give than to receive.
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What about other means of treating? Tamiflu is not available now, and my physician will not prescribe it unless I get the flu, which I haven't. I am reticent to buy Tamiflu on the internet as you never know what you are actually getting. But what about Oscillo? Or what about some of the other herbal remedies like I've seen in some of the alternative medicine threads. I feel like for those of us who can't get Tamiflu, there must be SOMETHING we could do to substitute. Ideas Doc?
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Therese,
There are many sources of Genuine Tamiflu available on the net. Pricy, Yes. But I'd rather pay twice as much now than not be able to get it later, or have to deal with a bunch of sick folks in a Drs office later. |
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There are now 4 different strains we should be watching. If we catch one we will not be immune from the other three
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naplesvacation
Valued Member Joined: March 31 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2 |
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twoolf - what sites do you suggest and what the probablility of getting it past the border - I dont know of any US sites that will sell without a prescription - do you?
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I doubt this advice from Cathy very much. Every year flu vaccines are relatively successful in protecting against many strains of flu, in a way that is much better than nothing. The current strains of H5N1 are very similar in many ways, and I think there will be a lot of evidence of immunity to one, such as by surviving it, will mostly protect against the others. If this thread continues I could find some medical sources for evidence, but there can be no sure proof, because the virus has not yet evolved into pandemic potential, there are only dozens of survivors to test for immunity to new strains, and that is very hard to test as currently only about one in a million people get avian flu even in countries with lots of sick poultry.
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