The most important way to care for your skin is to protect it
from the damaging rays of the sun. Ultraviolet radiation damages
the skin and can lead to wrinkles, premature aging, age spots,
and cancer. Take extra precautions to make sure your skin is
not exposed to the sun’s rays. Use a natural sunscreen,
or a moisturizer that contains sunscreen (at least SPF 15) everyday.
Your skin does need some sunlight – 10-15 minutes of direct
exposure daily.
Three antiviral drugs (amantadine, rimantadine, and oseltamivir)
are approved and commercially available for use in preventing
flu. All of these medications are prescription drugs, and
a doctor should be consulted before the drugs are used. When
used for prevention, they are about 70% to 90% effective for
preventing illness in healthy adults.
Four antiviral drugs (amantadine, rimantadine, zanamavir
and oseltamivir) have been approved for treatment
of the flu. If taken within 2 days of getting sick, these
drugs can reduce the symptoms of the flu and shorten the time
you are sick by 1 or 2 days. They also can make you less contagious
to others. All of these drugs must be prescribed by a doctor
and taken for 5 days. Antiviral drugs are effective only against
influenza viruses. They will not help the symptoms associated
with the common cold or many other flu-like illnesses caused
by viruses that circulate in the winter.
All of the antiviral drugs are different in terms of who
can take them, how they are given, any dosing changes based
on age or medical conditions, and side effects.
Your doctors will help decide whether you should get antivirals
and which one you should get.
Antiviral drugs are most often used to control flu outbreaks
in institutions, for example in nursing Homes, or in hospital
wards, where people at high risk (see below) for complications
from flu are in close contact with each other. Antivirals
also have been used on cruise ships or similar settings to
control outbreaks of the flu.
In the event of an outbreak, public health practice is to
combine the use of flu vaccine and antivirals. In a nursing
Home during an outbreak, for example, residents and staff
are given the flu vaccine and antivirals to prevent flu until
the vaccine takes effect (about 2 weeks). This practice continues
as long as influenza is occurring in that setting.
Doctors also can prescribe antivirals for flu to people not
living in institutional settings, but treatment must begin
within 2 days of the onset of symptoms for it to be effective.
Also, while all antivirals lessen the symptoms of illness
and shorten the duration of illness, only 1 (oseltamivir)
has been shown in a study to reduce some complications requiring
antibiotics.
When considering antivirals, it’s important to remember
that most healthy people recover from the flu without complications.
Some people are considered to be at high risk from complications
of flu. This includes
- People 65 years of age and older
- Children 6-23 months of age*
- People of any age with chronic medical conditions (for
example, heart or lung disease, diabetes)
- Pregnant women
Note that none of the antivirals are approved for use in
children less than 1 year of age.
*Children 6-23 months of age are at increased risk for influenza-related
hospitalization.
For Treatment: If you get sick with flu-like
symptoms this season, your doctor first may give you a test
to find out whether you have influenza. (Symptoms of flu include:
fever (usually high), headache, tiredness, a sore throat and
dry cough, nasal congestion, and body aches.) Your doctor
also will consider a number of things before making a treatment
decision, such as your risk for complications from flu.
For Prevention: In the event of a flu outbreak
in a Home, institution, or community, your doctor may choose
to give antivirals to you as a preventive measure, especially
if you are at high risk for complications from the flu. Also,
if you are in close contact with someone who is considered
at high risk for complications from flu, you may be given
antiviral drugs to prevent passing flu to the high-risk person.
Among some healthy adults and children, side effects can
include central nervous system (CNS) side effects such as
nervousness, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and lightheadedness,
and gastrointestinal side effects like nausea and loss of
appetite. CNS side effects happen more often among persons
taking amantadine than among persons taking rimantadine. Among
some other persons with long-term illnesses, more serious
side effects, such as delirium, hallucinations, agitation,
and seizures, can occur. Side effects usually diminish and
disappear after 1 week.
This drug is inhaled and can cause side effects, especially
in those with asthma or other chronic lung disease. Decreased
respiratory function and bronchospasm have been reported with
use of zanamivir. Zanamivir is generally not recommended for
use in persons with underlying lung disease such as asthma
and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Other side effects
reported by less than 5% of those who have used this drug
are diarrhea, nausea, sinusitis, nasal infections, bronchitis,
cough, headache, and dizziness.
The side effects reported most often in those people who
took this drug were gastrointestinal (i.e., nausea and vomiting).
Nausea and vomiting may be less severe if oseltamivir is taken
with food.
Click on the link below for more detailed information about
antiviral drugs for influenza:
Prevention and Control of Influenza, Recommendations of the
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), April 25, 2003 / Vol.
52 / No. RR-08.
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