Internet buyers must always be aware of fraudulent websites and bird flu topics are no different. Only anti-viral drugs approved by the FDA are recommended for treating bird flu. Buying anything else is a waste of your time and money and could even be dangerous to your health.
Buy Medicine from Legitimate Pharmacies
Face it, no one should buy a bird flu treatment via the Internet unless you have been directed to do so by your doctor and you purchase the medicine from a legitimate online pharmacy.
Beware of Sites Urging Stockpiling
Many sites capitalize on our desire to want to stockpile medicine to treat bird flu. Individual stockpiling certainly benefits retailers looking to make big profits. Medicines have expiration dates, some medicines are not legitimate or are "forged" medicines that look like the real thing.
Be Sceptical of Natural Cures
Some sites claim their drug is natural and safe, and may be safe, but not necessarily effective. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a website listing some fraudulent avian flu therapies that have been marketed on the Internet. You can find a copy of the letters the FDA has sent to each business claiming to be selling a drug to combat bird flu.
Some ways to spot fraudulent therapies on the Internet are:
- Don't believe anything that says it "cures" bird flu. Currently there are no cures to bird flu. Even anti-viral drugs such as Tamiflu ® and Relenza ® do not cure influenza, although they can treat symptoms and reduce the severity of the disease, which is very important.
- Be wary of any products that say they can prevent bird flu. Prevention of bird flu involves more than just taking some kind of substance, unless that substance is a vaccine. Vaccines for humans against the H5N1 subtype of bird flu are not yet available. The only drugs currently recommended for prevention, taken correctly, are anti-viral drugs in people who may have been infected with the virus. In some countries where bird flu outbreaks in humans has occurred, Tamiflu ® has been used in people close to those who were infected in an attempt to prevent them from getting bird flu as well.
- Stay away from products that say they kill the bird flu virus. Probably these products do not have any scientific basis. Think about it. Chlorine bleach kills the bird flu virus too, but it is not a treatment for bird flu.
- You can check out the urban legends site www.snopes.com and type in bird flu to see if there is recent fraudulent or joke news about bird flu. One recent claim is that Donald Rumsfeld owns stock in the company that created Tamiflu ®, a drug the US is stockpiling. Like snopes.com says, Rumsfeld does indeed own stock in the company, but the rumor says that Tamiflu ® isn't helpful against the flu, which is not true. Tamiflu can reduce the severity of the flu and reduce complications. Complications from influenza (bird and other types) are what kill people who die from becoming infected with influenza.
- Food and Drug Administration. Fraudulent Avian Flu Therapies. See site: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2005/NEW01274.html.
- Snopes.com. Urban Legends. Rumsfeld and Tamiflu. See text: http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/tamiflu.asp.
- Writing Committee to the World Health Organization Consultation on Human Influenza A/H5. Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Infection in Humans. New England Journal of Medicine. Vol. 353:1374-1385 No. 13. Sep 25, 2005. See text: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/353/13/1374.