Doctors at the National Center on Immunization and Respiratory Disease at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are urging people to not take Tamiflu unless they have real flu symptoms that are more than just mild. Tamiflu, is a prescribed medicine that works to help prevent the spreading of a viruses from infected cells into healthy cells H1N1 virus (swine flu). It has been proven to help fight viruses like the H1N1 virus but when used unnecessarily it can have some damaging consequences.

When drugs like Tamiflu are used when not necessary by a large amount of people, what happens is the viruses like swine flu will mutate and become resistant the medication. Some drug-resistant strains of the H1N1 flu have already been reported this summer. Besides providing the grounds for super viruses, when you use Tamiflu without any symptoms or with only mild flu symptoms, you are taking away the medication from others who may actually need it to save their life.

There already have been large numbers of occurrences in the United States were Tamiflu has been abused. Some summer camps made the kids bring the medicine to camp or take Tamiflu before coming to camp to prevent the spread of the flu. Another instance is when Landon Donovan for the U.S. Galaxy soccer team came down with the swine flu, all of the soccer team members and staff were advised to take Tamiflu.

Tamiflu and other antiviral medicines like Relenza should not be taken as preventative medicine. This can lead to a huge pandemic of a drug-resistant flu that can lead to thousands of deaths.

    

Everyone is in such a panic with the threat of H1N1. I have heard many parents calling the doctor wanting to get tamiflu because they were in the same vicinity of someone who had the virus. This is like any other medication, it shouldn’t be used unless absolutely necessary.

Panic is what causes shortages on medication, then the ones who really need it cannot get it.