The USA Does Not Have Enough Tamiflu

The USA Does Not Have Enough Tamiflu.
If the headlines are any indication, this year's flu time is turning out to be a whopper. Boston and New York federal have declared states of emergency, vaccine supplies are management out in spots, and some emergency departments are overwhelmed. And the panacea Tamiflu, used to treat flu symptoms, is reportedly in short supply. But is the job as bad as it seems? The bottom line: It's too early in the flu occasion to say for sure, according to health experts.

Certainly there are worrying signs. "This year there is a higher swarm of positive tests coming back," said Dr Lewis Marshall Jr, chairman of the bureau of emergency medicine at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in New York City. "Emergency rooms are experiencing an influx of people.

People are fatiguing to find the vaccine and having a heartless time due to the fact that it's so late in the vaccination season". But the vaccine is still available, said Dr Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, in a report Tuesday. "The FDA has approved influenza vaccines from seven manufacturers, and collectively they have produced an estimated 135 million doses of this season's flu vaccine for the US".

And "We have received reports that some consumers have found soil shortages of the vaccine. We are monitoring this situation". Consumers can go to flu.gov to obtain restricted sources for flu shots, including clinics, supermarkets and pharmacies. For bourgeoisie who have the flu "be assured that the FDA is working to induce sure that medicine to attend flu symptoms is available for all who need it.

We do anticipate intermittent, temporary shortages of the said suspension form of Tamiflu - the liquid version often prescribed for children - for the residue of the flu season. However, the FDA is working with the manufacturer to increase supply". The flu mature seems to have started earlier than usual.

A report Friday from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 47 states were reporting widespread influenza activity, up from 41 earlier the week before. But the write-up also stated that the flu has begun to drop in some areas, especially in the Southeast, where it head showed up.

And doctors' visits for flu have dropped, a CDC spokesman said. This is standard of a famously unpredictable virus. "One of the characteristics of flu is that you see lots of geographic differences in the bumping and timing of epidemics, so while you might see an outbreak start to go away in one area, it might be just beginning in another area," said Dr John Treanor, boss of infectious diseases at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in New York.

So "I wouldn't be surprised at all to meaning of a decline in the number of cases in the Northeast but at the same measure see more cases developing in the West". Marshall said flu motion generally peaks in late January, but it's unclear if this year's early start means the flu also will tip early. Other factors may be complicating the issue.

For instance, last year's condition was relatively mild, which may have "magnified the perception that this year is more severe". Although this year "is a more more severe outbreak than we've seen in the US for several years, so it's probably a combination of both things".

The flu this year isn't surely causing more severe illness, at least not across the board. This year's H3N2 virus is loosely characterized by higher rates of illness in older public and correspondingly higher rates of hospital admissions and deaths. The FDA's Hamburg said, "Although the after year's flu season was relatively mild, this season is turning out to be more severe. On the satisfied side, the vaccine is well matched this season to the circulating virus strains that are causing influenza".

The bottom job is that no one knows what kind of flu season this year is going to turn out to be. "Projection is very difficult," said Dr Kenneth Bromberg, chairman of pediatrics and governor of the Vaccine Research Center at Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York City. "You have no plan what's prevailing to happen" click. treanor agreed. "If you've seen one flu season, you've seen one flu season".