There have been times that flu symptoms have made me consider jumping out a window, but I’ve never actually done so.
The BBC reported this morning that the popular flu drug Tamiflu may cause delusions. Scientists are saying that this is not a problem with the drug, and that delusions are a typical symptom of influenza. Some are seeking to evaluate these claims more closely and change the product warning information. With all the precautions about preparing for a potential flu pandemic this is just the kind of report that really interfere with things.
No way! For real? Maybe it’s just interactions with other drugs. I don’t see how an antiviral med can mess with your brain!
That’s what I thought. All Tamiflu really does is inhibit the protein that the flu virus uses to induce apoptosis, or cell suicide. Less neuraminidase = less cell death = less flu transmission, in theory.
I don’t pretend to know anything about this, it’s nowhere near my field, but I’m pretty sure scientists synthesized the compound in Tamiflu by emulating the natural substrate of neuraminidase, sialic acid. Just googling around, I managed to dig up an article that suggested that the family of sialic acids may have been instrumental in human brain development. The abstract of the paper is here.
I’ll quote the juicy stuff:
So perhaps having a chemical structurally and functionally similar to sialic acids floating around in our blood stream really can have an effect on the brain. Just a thought.