Main Challenges in Swine Flu Treatment

Healthcare practitioners can experience a number of challenges while treating swine flu. But the good news is that antiviral medicines can help patients with weakened immune systems get relief from its symptoms. Read on to find out more about swine flu.

Swine flu, also known as swine influenza, is a type of flu infection caused by a viral strain called H1N1, which belongs to the family of influenza virus type A . The most recent outbreak of swine flu occurred in 2009, wreaking havoc to human population worldwide. One of the major challenges in swine flu treatment is that its symptoms are often similar to regular flu symptoms. If you are infected with the H1N1 virus, you are likely to suffer from fever and chills, cough, runny nose, sore throat, fatigue, headache and body aches. Following the 2009 pandemic, many infected people were reported to have suffered from diarrhoea and vomiting.

Countering the challenges with Tamiflu
If you think that you have lately been exposed to an H1N1 affected environment, talk to your doctor immediately and stay at home. Taking annual flu vaccines can possibly save you from a full-blown flu attack. Antiviral drugs like Tamiflu can be another effective treatment option. Tamiflu oseltamivir can quickly reduce the severity of swine flu symptoms if taken within a couple of days from the onset of symptoms.

Risk increases with age
Another major challenge in treating swine flu is that the H1N1 virus is more likely to attack older patients with weakened immune response as compared to healthy adults. If you have a history of respiratory troubles, chances are high that you will experience acute sickness. The first few days after the onset of swine flu symptoms are most crucial for doctors to diagnose the problem.

Probable limitations of Tamiflu
Swine flu treatment with antiviral medicines is based on the complexity of its symptoms and fatality rate worldwide. Although Tamiflu has been touted as the most effective antiviral drug to treat swine flu, some experts believe that excessive use of this medicine can make the flu virus resistant to its active ingredient, which may pose problems in preventing flu outbreaks in future. But having said that, Tamiflu is as of now one of the only effective medicines to prevent and treat influenza. Clinical trials show that patients taking oseltamivir tablets recover from flu almost 1.5 times faster than patients not taking this medicine.

Flu vaccine
To deal with the challenges of swine flu treatment, a new type of flu vaccination was developed following the 2009 pandemic. You can talk to your GP to find out more about this vaccine. Popular inoculation programmes usually focus on making a vaccine that can protect an individual not just against swine flu, but also against a few other flu types.

Your role in flu prevention
Preventing human to human viral transmission is arguably the most difficult part in effective flu management. The virus can spread through sneezing and coughing. You can get infected by touching any surface with the virus on it and then touching your mouth, nose or eyes. Always wash your hands with soap or alcohol-based sanitizers to minimise the risk of viral transmission. Try to wear a mask or a special respirator when you go in public. That way, you can avoid contracting the virus if you are uninfected or spreading it if you are infected.

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