Swine flu patients were protected from developing pneumonia by taking Tamiflu during the pandemic, Chinese research has found.
A study of 1,200 people admitted to hospital with swine flu found those who were treated with Tamiflu were around 80 per cent less likely to develop pneumonia.
It means that four people needed to be treated with the drug to prevent one case of pneumonia, the study published online in the British Medical Journal found.
Some critics have said the response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic was excessive and that Tamiflu was ineffective.
The study, conducted by a team at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, also found that starting the course of Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir within two days of symptoms reduced the length time patients were feverish and lessened the amount of virus they shed, so making them less infective to others.
No comments:
Post a Comment