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Majority won't have access to antivirals in pandemic but generic drugs could help prevent deaths
Wiley-Blackwell ^ | Jun 12, 2009 | Unknown

Posted on 06/12/2009 6:58:09 AM PDT by decimon

Almost 90 per cent of the world's population will not have timely access to affordable supplies of vaccines and antiviral agents in the current influenza pandemic, but it is possible that inexpensive generic drugs that are readily available, even in developing countries, could save millions of lives.

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"At a scientific meeting in 2008 we heard that all of the people who developed bird flu in Indonesia, and did not receive antiviral treatment, died. This observation is terrifying. If this particular virus were to develop efficient human-to-human transmission we could see a global population collapse.

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(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: antiviral; antivirals; drugs; flu; generic; h1n1; influenza; pandemic; swineflu
Excerpted because Wiley-Blackwell is a publishing house.
1 posted on 06/12/2009 6:58:09 AM PDT by decimon
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To: SunkenCiv

The bird is the word ping.


2 posted on 06/12/2009 6:58:47 AM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

I really am confused. Wasn’t the death rate from this flu pretty low?


3 posted on 06/12/2009 8:39:28 AM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: brytlea
Wasn’t the death rate from this flu pretty low?

The death rate from the current swine flu has so far been low. If it recurs next fall then it may by then be worse.

Worse yet, according to this article, is a bird flu if that flu becomes transmittable between humans.

4 posted on 06/12/2009 10:13:34 AM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

Oh, I guess I should have read the whole thing. Doh!


5 posted on 06/12/2009 10:38:47 AM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: brytlea
Oh, I guess I should have read the whole thing.

That would break tradition.

6 posted on 06/12/2009 11:16:47 AM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

It certainly would, but then, how could I go thru FR so fast! A conundrum.... ;)


7 posted on 06/12/2009 11:21:16 AM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: decimon

By the way, Generic Website is real. Google it.


8 posted on 06/13/2009 1:43:28 PM PDT by JeepInMazar
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To: JeepInMazar

I think you replied to the wrong thread.


9 posted on 06/13/2009 3:12:24 PM PDT by decimon
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To: Smokin' Joe

swine flu ping


10 posted on 06/19/2009 5:11:04 PM PDT by DvdMom
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To: 2ndreconmarine; Fitzcarraldo; Covenantor; Mother Abigail; EBH; Dog Gone; ...

Ping...(Thanks, DvdMom!)


11 posted on 06/20/2009 11:30:14 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: decimon

UPDATE: To clarify things, what researchers are trying to determine is an over the counter (OTC) formula that would prevent Acute Respiratory Distress (ARD). Sometimes called the “Cytokine Storm”, it is an overreaction of the body’s immune system that severely damages the lungs, resulting in oxygen deprivation to the internal organs.

ARD has a very high mortality rate on its own, almost 50%, and is caused by the release of some 150 known inflammatory mediators (cytokines, oxygen free radicals, and coagulation factors). ARD may be caused by several different things which cause the severe immune response.

ARD may or may not be associated with secondary bacterial pneumonia infections that sometimes happen after lung damage.

With Avian Flu, typically the virus produces strong flu-like symptoms for about five days, and then ARD sets in, requiring the use of a ventilator to deliver oxygen through the damaged lungs. Shortly after, mortality can usually be determined with an ordinary chest X-ray, based on the degree of lung damage. But ventilators are in very short supply, with almost no extra ventilators available.

This is why efforts are being made to find an OTC drug combination that can prevent ARD from happening in the first place.

Recently, evidence in New Mexico strongly suggested that statin drugs used to fight cholesterol were effective in preventing both ARD and pneumonia, but this is now in dispute:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/ghcc-sdl061609.php

Long term exposure to arsenic could significantly contribute to the development of ARD:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-05/mbl-sli052009.php

However, a four-drug combination that inhibits some of the major inflammatory mediators, is now being suggested as a way to stave off ARD. All four of these drugs must be included.

1) 15,000 IU of Vitamin D (though prescription anti-hypertension drugs called ACE-2 inhibitors are preferred.)

2) Histamine-1 blocker. Benedryl or the equivalent.

3) Histamine-2 blocker. Tagamet or the equivalent (normally used to block acid reflux.)

4) Ibuprofen. Advil or the equivalent, a prostaglandin blocker.

In addition, it is also recommended to maintain just the MDAR of Vitamin A. Being short of Vitamin A is associated with having an excess of a very powerful inflammatory mediator called TNF-1. But it is easy to take too much Vitamin A, which is toxic.

Care should be taken with other “health foods” that can artificially enhance the immune system, something to be avoided when there is the prospect of ARD.


12 posted on 06/21/2009 6:49:39 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

Thank you for posting the combination. I had read it once before, and lost it. I do have those 4 in my medicine cabinet, and will be sure to get a bit extra to share, just in case.


13 posted on 06/21/2009 9:50:19 AM PDT by Judith Anne
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