Flu Virus And Bird Flu - Can Flu And Avian Flu Be Cured With Antibiotics?

By Ian Mason

To understand this, let us first have a look on what Flu and Avian Flu is.

What is flu?

Flu is a disease which has the following symptoms. They are fever with temperature above 38 degree centigrade or 100 degree Fahrenheit. You may also suffer from chills, muscular pain, severe headaches, tiredness, and a loss in your appetite, soreness of the throat, cough and chest pain. The symptoms may last for a few days and will heal with medication. Some of the people may suffer from this, which may last for a few weeks. What is obliviously needed is a good rest and you are required to consume large quantities of water preferably warm. Symptoms in children may include abdominal pain. This should not be confused with appendicitis. Children may also suffer from convulsions.

Drugs to treat the flu are limited. Drugs like Amantadine and Rimantdine have been around for a number of decades. But recent studies have shown that they are that effective against the type B influenza. New drugs have been introduced in the market. They are sold by the trade name of Tamiflu with Oseltamivir as its main composition. There is another drug known as Zanamivir. This drug is sold by the trade name of Relenza. This drug is also highly effective against flu. Both these drugs are used and highly effective for both types of flu i.e. the type “A” influenza and the type “B” influenza.

The flu is caused by the virus. Generally the virus is found with two protein factors, the H factor and the N factor. There are sixteen different H factors and nine different N factors. A combination of these factors gives one the flu virus. The H1N1 virus has caused the Spanish influenza in the year 1918. This virus has killed an estimated 40 to 50 million people all over the world. And let me tell you that the flu can be avoided by one simple measure. You should take your annual flu shot regularly. Most of the common flu can be tackled with this flu shot.

What is avian flu?

Avian flu is a strain of the virus that I have been discussing in the preceding paragraphs. They consist of enormous groups of viruses (a combination of the H factor and N factor) that are infecting the birds. Sometimes these viruses also find other species as hosts. Here they mutate taking the host and develop into a new strain of the virus. Most varieties of the avian influenza do not affect the human species. But when it does infect human species then it is found to be deadly. The particularity of the avian influenza is that it has so far not caused infection among humans. And if this takes place then we are doomed, for a new strain would have developed and this can be quite dangerous.

What are antibiotics used for?

Antibiotics are primarily, a drug to cure, one of bacterial infections. The flu being a viral infection will not find a remedy in antibiotics. In viral infections when one is infected by the influenza and the flu has reached proportions of the pneumonia. The bacteria in the body start to inflate. This is going to require antibiotics.

From the above facts that I have stated, it is very clear that you will be quite sure that avian flu and flu cannot be treated with antibiotics.

Learn more about human and avian flu viruses, and how Tamiflu can protect you and your family from possible death. This site also offers information on the flu viruses, symptoms, and how to prepare for the threat of a flu pandemic.