A leading Chinese respiratory expert has suggested that patients with the H7N9 virus should use the antiviral medication, Tamiflu, as early as possible.
Zhong Nanshan, who is the director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, says latest lab data shows that this year’s H7N9 strain is stronger than usual. He says severe cases, can host great amounts of the virus, which can live in the body for up to 30 days. The long survival duration of the potentially-deadly virus makes it harder to cure H7N9 patients than normal flu infections.
So far, Guangdong has reported 26 cases of the H7N9 virus, including 3 deaths. Zhong says that three patients that his institute is treating now are improving and two of them will be released from hospital within a week.
“Now the best advice we can give is that confirmed patients should use anti-virus medicine as early as possible, and the most commonly used medicine is Tamiflu. We should also pay attention to the H1N1 influenza, because it’s capable of human-to-human transmission. The flu virus can be of different strains, so you should be very careful when a member of your family develops flu symptoms.” said Dr. Zhong Nanshan, Respiratory Expert, Guangzhou Inst. of Respiratory Diseases.