Risk of infection: more infections from flu drugs
All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichCough, runny nose, fever and therefore go to bed? Many pump themselves full of antipyretic medication and still go to work. Anyone who takes the appropriate active ingredients will feel better again faster and will be back at work earlier as a “virus thrower”.
Fever against virus growth
Fever is actually a good thing: the increased body temperature inhibits the growth of germs and boosts the immune system. This not only helps your own body, it also reduces the risk of the pathogen being transmitted to others. Medicines such as aspirin, ibuprofen or paracetamol have an antipyretic effect - and thus increase the risk of infection for others.
Antipyretic agents aggravate the flu wave
Canadian researchers at McAsters University have taken a closer look at how great this effect could be in the case of flu. To do this, the scientists carried out two different studies. On the one hand, they used ferrets to analyze how strongly antipyretic agents influence virus replication and the associated release of viruses into the environment. In addition, they analyzed a study with people that examined how quickly they became infected when they came into contact with flu sufferers. The scientists then fed a mathematical model with the values from the two studies.
The frightening result: around five percent of influenza cases are caused by antipyretic drugs. Worldwide that would be 400,000 people with the flu. According to the calculation model, 1000 fewer people die of flu every year in the USA alone if the fever reducers were used more sparingly.
Better to stay in bed
"Nobody likes to feel sick, but it turns out that our well-being could be bought at the expense of others," says study author David Earn. The researchers believe that the effect could be even more extreme in the event of a pandemic. They recommend using aspirin and the like only if you have a high fever. Otherwise, home remedies and bed rest make more sense - this also prevents you from going to work with the flu and accelerates recovery. (away)
Source: Earn et al .: Population-level effects of suppressing fever, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2014, 281: 20132570
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