Flu Current Topics in Flu

The Flu - You Don't Have to Take it Lying Down

Summary & Participants

If you come down with the flu, there are ways to fight back.

Medically Reviewed On: July 21, 2009

Webcast Transcript

EDITOR'S NOTE: Because of reports of self-injury and delirium in patients with influenza who used Tamiflu, an antiviral drug used to treat the flu, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has required that the following warning be included in the prescribing and patient information:

"People with the flu, particularly children, may be at an increased risk of self-injury and confusion shortly after taking TAMIFLU and should be closely monitored for signs of unusual behavior. A healthcare professional should be contacted immediately if the patient taking TAMIFLU shows any signs of unusual behavior."

ANNOUNCER: Doctors strongly recommend yearly flu vaccine shots, but they’re not foolproof

Steven Lamm, Internist: The reality is that the vaccine can only give you sometimes complete protection, sometimes partial protection and some people just don’t respond. So don’t assume that you can’t get influenza because you’ve been vaccinated.

ANNOUNCER: Five to twenty percent of people in the US get the flu every year. If you’re one of them, there are some new ways to fight back

Steven Lamm, Internist: You can actually protect yourself with some oral antiviral agents and when taken either prior to exposure, okay, or very early -- within, let’s say, 24 to 48 hours of exposure to the influenza virus -- you will reduce the severity of your illness dramatically and the potential for complications. But it is only effective as long as you’re taking the medications.

ANNOUNCER: So how do anti-viral drugs work?

Steven Lamm, Internist: What they really do is they affect the ability of the virus to spread from cell to cell within the body, and that’s why it limits the damage.

ANNOUNCER: Antiviral treatment drugs can also protect you from getting the flu in the first place.

Steven Lamm, Internist: Let’s say there’s an outbreak of influenza in a nursing home, and a particular group of inpatients have not been vaccinated. These individuals are given Tamiflu in order to prevent them from getting ill. And as long as they take Tamiflu, the likelihood of their contracting influenza would be very, very low.

ANNOUNCER: If you’re sick with the flu, doctors urge you to stay home and take care of yourself.

Steven Lamm, Internist: Don’t go to work if you’re really ill. I mean, if you’re sick, you’re only going to infect everybody in the elevator, everybody in the subway, everybody in your office, and that’s how you spread these illnesses.

ANNOUNCER: Thanks for joining us on today’s Once Daily!