Thursday, February 19, 2015

Swine flu

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of swine flu influenza A infection is done by laboratory analysis. If you have flu like symptoms, your respiratory specimen will be collected, preferably within 4 to 5 days of visible symptoms. A real time PCR test is done where the viral genetic material is identified.

Treatment
Once the patient is tested positive for swine flu, treatment needs to be initiated immediately. According to the National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD), swine flu can be completely treated if it is diagnosed at a very early stage.

The anti‐viral medicines oseltamivir (Tamiflu/Fluvir) and zanamivir (Relenza) are given to diagnosed patients. Oseltamivir is given to in adults as well as to children below the age of 1 year.

As per NICD, the medicine should be administered within 48 hours of the first symptom. The drugs work by inhibiting the ability of virus to release progeny virus particles.

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