For those who noticed, I also included Tamiflu itself as one of the potential culprits that could give a helping hand to ignite a pandemic. I am sure that most people will understand the other factors I have summoned that could decrease the strength of our immune system. But there could be some active pushes as well…
When I heard how Tamiflu was connected to Rummy, I knew that it was time to do a double-check on the efficacy of Tamiflu for coping with Influenza infections. What I will try to demonstrate in this short post is not only how Tamiflu is
ex-planed to work. As such it could indeed sort of mitigate the natural process of infection, but it could also possibly facilitate the creation of new recombinant forms.
At a later stage during infection, an infected host cell will be transformed into a factory that starts to bud immense amounts of viral particles. For each viral particle a small part of the outer cell membrane of the host cell is pinched off. This happens at such high rate that the host cell will finally die in the process, as if it was bleeding to death. The pinched off part of the membrane of the host cell has several proteins attached to its outer edge which are genetically encoded by the virus. The most crucial ones are Hemaglutinine and Neuraminidase. Hemaglutinine is the classic target for the production of vaccins and Neuraminidase is a protein that is crucial in the above-described process called “budding”. It has enzymatic activity and cleaves a protein of the host cell, so that the viral bud can be fully released into the environment.
The molecule Tamiflu works as glue between Neuraminidase and this particular protein of the host cell. The enzymatic activity is blocked so that the latter step of final release into the environment no longer happens. Infected cells therefore no longer shed massive amounts of free particles to infect other cells. The disease is thereby mitigated (if the virus was still sensitive to Tamiflu that is!), and infection spreads at a slower rate.
But, instead of being freed to infect other cells, the viral particles, after massive production within the cells and massive formation of buds, now remain and are collected on the outer surface of the infected cell.
This is a visual description of the mechanism that is used to explain the action of Tamiflu on influenza.
If this does not work you can still find it overhere:
http://www.tamiflu.com/hcp/neuramin/neura_index.asp
What follows is personal conjecture, but look at the above-described picture, and you will see how this conjecture only follows from logic deduction. Compare the upper panel with a natural infection and the lower panel where the effect of Tamiflu is shown.
Is it possible that such cells are stopped in the process of producing more particles, to the point that the infected cell doesn’t really die anymore. Such cell (treated with Tamiflu) could very well go into a dormant state but than with massive amounts of viral particles sticking to its outer membrane?
Now that could be a good trigger for all sorts of autoimmune diseases, but apart from this …
How is one supposed to get rid of all those viral particles when they are glued so strongly to the infected cells? Okay, you are no longer sick, like you don’t have high fever, and can’t leave bed, but I’d like to clear my system as good as possible, and not have them in any sort of dormant state.
Any dormant state is an accident waiting to happen in the future. By that time one may have an infection with another variety of influenza, or simply have come into contact and thus carry other types like H5N1, or attenuated forms that were administered during vaccination. In other words, your system will than carry a potpourri of different types of viruses. And these will recombine (swap genetic information) in no time at all.
The picture that I have directed you to is
no longer the picture that the site will direct you to from it’s main page to explain the action of Tamiflu. Perhaps, the picture gives away too much :P From the main entrance the site now directs readers to :
http://www.tamiflu.com/consumer_howitworks.asp
Woeha !! Now, that is some different “animation”. And it says or explains nothing. In this one all of a sudden, the viral particles remain within the cell? This is impossible!! As Influenza belongs to the envelope viruses, a particle is
only formed by pinching off a small patch of the cellular membrane of the infected host, during a process called “budding”. But in this animation, there is no budding, and despite the absence of budding, viral particles are still shown. Moreover, they are shown to be
inside the cell, and to
remain in the cell. My goodness!! This is a LIE. Or at least a gross negligence, and it’s fruit deceives.
Might be worth to save the image (the first one!). It could soon disappear and no longer be available to our human knowledge.
