Rationing Health Care for the Swine flu

[tinytim]

Osborne believes the anti-viral medication Tamiflu might have saved his daughter but says her doctors decided not to administer it citing CDC guidelines recommending early doses only be given to certain patients including children under the age of two or those with underlying medical conditions.

"We've tried to review the science about what we know about these antiviral medicines in clinical circumstances and try to direct the medicines where they can really be lifesaving or do the most good," said the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat.

Until the H1N1 vaccine is widely available later next month, health officials say the most important thing to do is to get vaccinated against the regular, seasonal flu - now.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009...5351510.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColLowerPromoArea

Although this wasn't the main point of the article.. this little jewel popped out at me while I was reading it.

 

[donnA]

They said on tv this moring they are running out of vaccine, so more rationing will happen.

 

[Johnv]

Regarding the OP, seasonal H1N1 viruses are resistent to Tamiflu, though it is reaonably effective against common season flu.

 

[tinytim]

John, that is not what the Drs are saying in this area.

See, this is one thing that has me worried.. .

The healthcare professionals seem clueless, and seem to be parroting what others say.

Even in this article, the CDC recommends Tamiflu to certain people that meet a criteria: Young kids and those with underlying conditions...

Why single them out?
Does Tamiflu not work with teens with no underlying conditions.. if so, then the Drs in this article make sense...

Or is it because there is not enough Tamiflu for everyone.. which does naturally lead to rationing...

But this doesn't even make sense to me...
Tamiflu has been around for yrs... Why hasn't the production of it been ramped up over the last yr... I mean, how much time does it take to produce Tamiflu?

 

[Johnv]

Even in this article, the CDC recommends Tamiflu to certain people that meet a criteria: Young kids and those with underlying conditions...

The CDC normally recommends Tamiflu for children and those with underlying conditions in any given flu season. That recommendation is not H1N1 specific.

Tamiflu has been around for yrs... Why hasn't the production of it been ramped up over the last yr...

Actually, it has. Roche Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Tamiflu, has ramped up production since the Spring of this year. But part of what's happenning is that there's a bit of hypocondria going on. It happens all the time with the common cold: A person gets a cold, and goes to their physician demanding antibiotics. Even though antibiotics have no effect on the common cold (the cold is a virus, and antibiotics only work on bacteria), a physician will sometimes prescribe antobiotics to an insistent patient to shut them up. The result is a run on antibiotics unnecessarily. What's happrning now is that you have a lot of people running to get prescriptions of Tamiflu, even though they're not in any particular risk group.