Why you don't need antiviral drugs to fight colds and flu

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Don't waste your money on useless funds with unproven security.

Why you should ignore antiviral drugs

There are a number of pharmacological preparations and homeopathic remedies on the market, positioned as "medicines for the prevention and treatment of colds and flu." These products contain a variety of active substances: kagocel, umifenovir, interferons, azoxymer bromide … There is no need to memorize these and other complex names. It is important to pay attention only to the fact that all these funds are promoted as "antiviral" or "immunomodulatory".

The ad promises that people who take them will recover faster and have fewer colds, but there really is no reason to trust it.

The first reason to ignore these drugs is the lack of satisfactory evidence of efficacy.

Search for kagocel in one of the largest scientific databases in the world PubMed.gov PubMed.gov | The US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health Search database lists 17 articles where Kagocel is mentioned. Among them there are reports of laboratory tests and animal studies, but there are no reports of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that would prove that this drug actually helps people recover faster or get sick less often.

With other drugs "for the prevention and treatment of colds and flu" the situation is similar.

Why the effectiveness of antiviral drugs has not been proven

If some medicine really had the ability to speed up recovery from colds or prevent their occurrence, then, given the extreme prevalence of these diseases and their benign nature, it would not be difficult to conduct a qualitative study and prove the effect.

In this context, lack of evidence of efficacy is a strong argument that the remedy does not work or has negligible benefit.

What is the problem with research on antiviral drugs?

The results of clinical studies published in Russian-language medical journals are often cited as evidence of the alleged effectiveness of these funds.

Vasily Vlasov, doctor, doctor of medical sciences, professor at the Higher School of Economics, president of the Society of Evidence-Based Medicine Specialists.

There is no reliable reason to consider Kagocel an effective means of preventing or treating colds. Accordingly, a sane person should not use it.

The first thing to pay attention to is that many of these links lead nowhere, that is, the studies mentioned cannot be found anywhere.

In its article Society of Evidence-Based Medicine Specialists | Looking for a kagocel. Vasily Vlasov criticizes two available studies, allegedly proving the effectiveness of Kagocel. In fact, these studies contain a lot of evidence of bad practice, they are sponsored by manufacturers and even accompanied by promotional materials.

Are antiviral drugs safe?

The absence of large RCTs means not only unproven efficacy, but also unexplored safety of drugs for "treating and preventing influenza and the common cold." This is the second reason why they should not be used.

In the case of homeopathic remedies, the likelihood of side effects is, of course, very small: only because, based on the technology of their manufacture (many dilutions), they do not contain active substances.

In the case of many other “immunomodulatory and antiviral” drugs, the unexamined safety profile is highly questionable, as they are initially developed as drugs that will be sold without a doctor's prescription and used by many people.

Kagocel contains gossypol, a substance with an established ability to suppress fertility in men. Until now, its toxicological tests have only been carried out on rats. There is no data on the safety of the drug for humans, however, despite this, the drug is used in children. By world standards, this is an unacceptable, immoral practice. If the safety profile of a product has not been established, it should first be studied in adults and only then can it be used in the treatment of children.

Why are these drugs still on the market?

There are several possible reasons.

Patients who take these drugs recover. Not because the medicine helps them, but because the disease goes away on its own. However, they may find it frustrating to admit that they have wasted money, and therefore they often become active supporters of the use of these drugs, recommending them to their friends and family.

Many patients and doctors believe massive advertising and that claims of efficacy and safety have been verified by someone else.

The disorientation of the public and doctors is reinforced by the fact that the use of these funds not only meets with no resistance, but is often supported by state health authorities. Society of Evidence-Based Medicine Specialists | The Ministry of Health recommended. and academia Evidence-Based Medicine Society | Flu. Recommendations. Another shame. …

What to do if your doctor has prescribed antiviral drugs

We cannot hope that in the foreseeable future, unfair advertising campaigns, incompetence and misrepresentation of recommendations caused by financial interests will disappear. In this regard, consumers need to become more informed and ignore these means.

What to treat for colds and flu

Currently, a small number of antiviral drugs are available with very modest effectiveness and only for the treatment of influenza. This group includes, in particular, oseltamivir CDC | Influenza Antiviral Medications: Summary for Clinicians. … If treatment is started early, this drug may slightly shorten the duration of the illness (by an average of one day). Given the benign nature of this infection, the use of oseltamivir is impractical for most people.

There is no cure for the hundreds of other viral infections that cause cold symptoms. There is also no effective way to prevent the complications of these infections.

The rules for treating a cold can be described as follows:

1. If necessary, simple and cheap symptom remedies can be used to relieve the symptoms of colds and flu (while awaiting natural recovery).
2. Patients need to know what symptoms may indicate the development of complications of the infection and when it is imperative to see a doctor.