My Experience With Tamiflu

Throughout the history, influenza viruses have caused several pandemics or global epidemics, killing many people. For example, the influenza strike in 1918 to 1919 infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide, which is one-third of the planet’s population at the time and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million people. More than 25 percentage of the U.S. population were affected, and caused 675,000 deaths in U.S during the pandemic.(History, 2015). There were no effective treatments for this type of influenza and no available vaccines can prevent its spread during the period. (History, 2015) U.S government required general population to wear masks and other protective equipments in public areas, and many public places also closed due to the influenza strike. Health care providers tried everything they knew to save people, but none shows any evidence of effects. (National Center for Biotechnology Information [NCBI], 2015). Scientists found out that the influenza virus had invaded their lungs and caused pneumonia, which made so many people died from the pandemic (History,2015). Another influenza strike happened

Lethal Injection: A study of influenza vaccines Every fall season we hear the question; did you get your flu shot yet? It is supposed to protect you from that nasty flu virus that circulates our communities during the fall and winter months. But, did you know that in 2011 the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Adverse Event Reporting Systems Website (AERS) reported 51 deaths caused by the flu vaccine in the United States (U.S.) (CDC,2012). According to National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), as of July 2012 there have been more than 84,000 reports of adverse reactions, 1000 vaccine related deaths and over 1600 cases of Guillain- Barre syndrome, a acute form of paralysis, triggered by the vaccine (NVIC.ORG).

 Also noted by the CDC, the H1N1 flu pandemic that occurred last year was the first pandemic in over 40 years.

In the UK, there are more than 1 billion scripts prescribed and dispensed every year (HSCIC, 2013). There are over 12,000 pharmacies in the UK, and approximately 1.6 million people visit a pharmacy every day (HSCIC, 2013). It is therefore natural to assume that between these 1 billion prescriptions, an

Pharmacists' Legal Obligations: The McLaughlin v Hooks Case a) Pharmacists have ethical and legal obligations to ensure that the prescriptions they fill are valid, both in that the physician must be prescribing the medication for a valid reason and that the person filling the prescription must be doing so for valid therapeutic reasons (ASHP, 2008; Brushwood, n.d.). The court needs to take these obligations into account, and then must determine whether the frequency with which the prescription was refilled would have required a pharmacist to check with the patient's physician or at least another pharmacist in order to determine if the pattern represented abuse (Brushwood, n.d.). The basic considerations before the court, then, are the pattern of behavior (i.e. prescription refilling) represented in the facts and the relationship of this pattern to the legal and ethical standards of pharmacists. The addition was certainly a foreseeable consequence, and this means that standard applications of negligence torts might also be applicable.

For the past ten years, we at Virginia Mason Medical Center have been implementing mandatory influenza vaccination. This is due to the flu vaccination being able to reduce flu illnesses and prevent flu-related hospitalizations. According to the Center for Control and Disease (CDC, 2014) during 2012-2013, an estimated 45% of the U.S population got vaccinated, helping to prevent an estimated 6.6 million flu-related illness, with 3.2 million flu-related medical visits, almost 80,000 hospitalizations and roughly $87 billion dollars in total economic burden. Influenza is extremely contagious and each year on an average 5%-20% of the U.S population get the flu with tens of thousands die from a flu-related illness. Therefore, many health cares setting along with Virginia Mason Medical Center is mandating all their healthcare workers to get the influenza vaccination. Consequently, making annual influenza vaccination requirement for healthcare workers a continuing and debatable health topic. The potential of getting the vaccination have great benefits to healthcare professionals, their patients, and their families by

Most people perceive “the flu” to be a common (not a big deal) illness, but they overlook the 20,000 deaths and over 100,000 hospitalizations nationwide.

Improving Influenza Vaccination Rates Among Healthcare Personnel Using Three Behavioral Intervention Methods 1. The Situation/Challenge: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of influenza (flu)-associated deaths in the United States ranges from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000, annually (CDC, 2010). Vulnerable populations—those with a compromised immune system, elderly, very young children, and critically ill—are especially susceptible to the influenza. (Poland, 2005). Pre-exposure vaccination is the most effective method of preventing influenza and influenza-related morbidity and mortality (Poland, 2005). However, flu vaccination is frequently contra-indicated for the vulnerable

To answer my research question I will first review literature on flu vaccines from conventional sources such as the Center for Disease Control and National Institute for Health. I will then review other material available on the Internet written by doctors that do not agree with the conventional

There is a division in the medical community about the benefits of getting vaccinated against the flu. Some medical professionals insist that vaccination against the flu can decrease death by fifty percent, while others provide evidence against such a claim. It is difficult to determine how many people die from the flu, who has the flu, and which strain of the flu someone has. There are over 200 viruses that cause flu like systems. In reality, researchers believe that only 7 or 8 percent of cases of people actually contract the flu that report systems associated with the flu such as, headache, fever, coughing, etc. The flu can mutate very quickly causing the virus to differ every flu season if only slightly. Thus, members of the World Health

Many people get the shot every year and then they catch the flu. This speaks about the ineffectiveness of the vaccines.

Influenza, Avian Influenza, and the Impacts of Past and Looming Pandemics Avian influenza is a disease that has been wreaking havoc on human populations since the 16th century. With the recent outbreak in 1997 of a new H5N1 avian flu subtype, the world has begun preparing for a pandemic by looking upon its past affects. In the 20th Century, the world witnessed three pandemics in the years of 1918, 1957, and 1968. In 1918 no vaccine, antibiotic, or clear recognition of the disease was known. Killing over 40 million in less than a year, the H1N1 strain ingrained a deep and lasting fear of the virus throughout the world. Though 1957 and 1968 brought on milder pandemics, they still killed an estimated 3 million people and presented a new

The disease however, exist now as the swine flu instead of the H1NI virus. The disease still spreads today just like the regular flu. In order to avoid the virus the person who does not have the disease can receive a vaccination for it. If not done the person’s vulnerable to gaining the disease which would result in a horrible number of events. That’s why the H1NI is still impacting the country today.

Community Teaching- Influenza Vaccine Jessica Alves December 11, 2015 According to Healthy People 2020 a goal of theirs is to “increase immunization rates and reduce preventable infections.” The influenza virus is one of these preventable infections, which can cause serious harm to patients. The influenza virus is known as the “flu.” Everyone in his or her life has had some experience with the flu, whether that is himself or herself or a family member. What if there was a way to ensure people from contracting a strain of the influenza virus? Well, thanks to technology and medical research there is.

The world has experienced a total of four pandemics within the twentieth century. These pandemics, as horrific and deadly as they are, have brought so much more positive advances to our health care system and how we prepare for biological threats. Although we are in the twenty-first century and we have advanced so far in healthcare, there is still the possibility of a deadly pandemic.