Many Who Get Flu Won’t Get Prescribed Antivirals
Daniel Novick-KFOX News Weekend Anchor/Reporter
Posted: 6:16 pm MDT September 12, 2009
Updated: 9:07 pm MDT September 12, 2009
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/20878820/detail.html
EL PASO, Texas — As fall and winter is just around the corner, doctors are gearing up for a long year dealing with the flu — particularly the swine flu. And in their preparations, doctors are getting guidance from the federal government to not prescribe antiviral medication like Tamiflu and Relenza to patients who are not considered high-risk.
“If I had the swine flu, I would be very worried that I’m not going to get medication,” said Carlos Payan, from East El Paso.
Payan, like most of us, would not be considered high-risk.
“It’s going to be really sad that people are affected by not having medication for the swine flu,” Payan told KFOX.
So who is high risk? Pregnant women, children younger than five, adults 65 or older and people with certain chronic conditions such as asthma and heart disease.
“I don’t think I am one of the more dangerous classifications by my age, so I really don’t think it’s a problem for me,” said Bill Filetti, from East El Paso.
Filetti believes he’ll be OK this flu season.
“I don’t really have any problem with it. From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t seem like it’s much stronger than any other flu,” he said.
Federal authorities said they hope to prevent overuse, hoarding and shortages of drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza. Last spring during the swine flu scare, there were reports of these issues popping up across the country.