There are two clauses in this article that you should know about before I go into the body of the subject. The first, what is a pandemic? And the next, what is Tamiflu? If I tell you about these two things then you will have a very clear idea about the title of this article. What is a pandemic? A pandemic is an epidemic with world wide propositions. When diseases attack an area and wipe out a whole population of people then we call it as an epidemic. Epidemic covers a vast geographical area. It may be caused by any disease causing organisms like a virus or may be due to plague etc. I will cite a few examples of epidemic that we have faced so that you will be clear of the facts. An epidemic struck Europe from the year 1347 to 1351. This was caused by the plague. It was called the Black Death. Plagues of this kind struck Europe till the end of the 18th century. The epidemic polio struck the country of North America in the year 1916 when the total number of deaths due to polio was 6000. The number of cases affected was 36,000. Canada faced a similar polio epidemic in the year 1953 which resulted in the highest case of polio affliction. Africa faced its epidemic of sleeping sickness where by two thirds of its population was wiped out. The majority of this took place in a part of Africa which is now called Uganda. This epidemic was caused by the tsetse fly which is responsible for sleeping sickness. Pandemic also struck this world. A few of which I would like to describe. Pandemic is common now a days, with the speed of travel and the modes of transport, diseases will know no boundaries and shorten distances. The diseases that can be transmitted through contact or the diseases that can spread through air, it will result in a pandemic. In the year 1819 when influenza struck, the number of lives lost around the world was a staggering 20 million. Now when lives are lost in this proportion around the world due to a common disease it is called a pandemic. There are other pandemics looming over our head. The worst is yet to come. AIDS is a disease of a massive magnitude. Tamiflu: How it protects? Tami flu is a medicine that is prescribed for the influenza, an infection caused by the virus. Influenza is of three varieties; they are Influenza type 'A', type B'' and 'C'. Type B and C are not a threat to the human population. They cause very mild symptoms in the human beings. Of this type A there are a number of strains of the virus. Some particular strains of the Influenza of type A is the most dangerous and virulent virus. It has affected a number of species so far, some among them being squirrels, pigs, and also humans. In the preceding paragraph I have discussed about the epidemics. The deadliest epidemic so far to take place was caused by the H1N1 strain of the type 'A' virus. Tami flu works in such a way that it stops the virus from spreading in your body in case you are affected by the virus and you are taking Tamiflu. Then this works to reduce your symptoms and eliminate the virus in your body with the help of anti bodies in your body. In addition to the symptoms though Tamiflu is working for stopping the viruses, you may suffer from muscular pain, throat ache and headache. You may take Aspirin, Paracetamol or Ibuprofen. Drink plenty of warm fluids to keep yourself from getting de-hydrated. |
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