A Case Study-Tamiflu

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   You may have heard of Tamiflu, an anti-viral

medicine that works against the influenza virus.

You or a member of your family may even have

taken the medicine when they had the flu.

 

 

Image: By Mk2010 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61707985

   Do you know how it worked to help you feel better faster?

  

   When you become infected with the influenza A or B virus, the virus enters your cells and starts to make copies of itself.

  

   An enzyme, neuraminidase, on the surface of the virus allows the new copies to be released to go and infect other cells. Tamilfu blocks the enzyme so that virus copies cannot be released. The infection stops spreading through your body and you begin to feel better.

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Why can’t we use Tamiflu on all viral diseases? 

   Tamiflu only works on viruses that have the same enzyme that it can block.  

   Tamiflu was in clinical testing to see if it may be able to work against the covid-19 virus. But, since the anti-viral is designed to fight a specific enzyme on the influenza A and B viruses, scientists think that it is unlikely that it will be effective in fighting covid-19.

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