The Food and Drug Administration is looking into a handful of reports of patients possibly treated inappropriately. Also, new flu drugs Relenza and Tamiflu are being promoted heavily. Flu drugs do not prevent people from catching influenza.
Vaccination is the best way to do that.
It is not too late to be vaccinated, although some regions may start running low on vaccine, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Neither the new Relenza and Tamiflu, nor two older flu medicines, can help bacterial pneumonia. Those patients need antibiotics. The FDA has received reports of three people who died from bacterial infections who at least initially may have been given flu drugs instead of antibiotics, Jolson said. The flu drugs only work if taken within the first 48 hours of flu symptoms - and they then reduce flu symptoms only by about a day.