What you should know about flu antiviral drugs?

Antiviral drugs are a category of drugs which is used to fight against flu and treat it. These drugs are very effective if used as soon as flu symptoms arise. But there are certain things to be known about these drugs before using these antiviral drugs.

Is there any medication for flu:

The first thing you should know that there is treatment for flu? There are some prescribed medicines known as antiviral drugs are helpful treating the flu. People having viral infection or flu symptoms and the people having severe flu issue and also the people having asthma, heart issues or diabetes need immediate treatment as per the recommendations.

What are these drugs:

Antiviral drugs are the prescribed medication in the form of pills, inhale powder; liquid that treats and battles with flu viruses in human body. These drugs can’t be sold over the counter. One can get these drugs only if they have a valid prescription from doctor. These drugs are also different from antibiotics which are used to treat bacterial infections.

What you need to do if you have flu:

If you have antiviral flu, antiviral drugs are the treatment option. Consult with your physician quickly to know the severity of the infection and risk of the flu. Generally, the flu symptoms could be fever, sore throat, cough, running nose, aches, fatigue etc. your physician would prescribe the antiviral drugs needed for your treatment.

Need of getting vaccinated:

You should get vaccinated as antiviral drugs are not a substitute of flu vaccination. The effect of the vaccine may differ but it is the best way to stop viral flu and its serious complications. The antiviral drugs are the second line of treatment to treat flu.

The benefits of these drugs:

These drugs work well if taken immediately after feeling symptoms of flu. If the treatment begins in first two days of getting sick, these drugs can weaken flu symptoms and fever and also shorten the duration of the flu. These drugs are also effective to minimize the risk of complication related with flu for example children ear infection, respiratory issues that need antibiotics and hospitalization of adults. People having serious issues of flu, getting treatment quickly with antiviral drugs means they would have milder illness rather than more severe illness which requires hospitalization. Various studies have also suggested that people hospitalized with flu infection early treatment with antiviral drugs have reduced the risk of death among them.

When you should take antiviral drugs: As per the studies antiviral drugs gives the best affect if taken within the couple of days of getting infected with flu. But it doesn’t mean starting later the drugs would have no effect rather it would be still beneficial especially for the people at high risk or having chronic flu symptoms or hospitalized with severe illness.

How long the antiviral drug treatment is: For the flu treatment, antiviral drugs are prescribed for five days generally but in few cases the treatment can exceed more than five days depending on the severity of the flu and its symptoms.