Antiviral Drugs for Pregnant Women

Are antiviral drugs safe for pregnant women? Pregnancy lowers a woman's immunity, and pregnant women have been especially hard hit in previous influenza pandemics.

Medications can pass through a mother's body in her milk and they can be passed on to an unborn infant through a mother's blood and amniotic fluid.

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The CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is currently recommending that pregnant mothers should take antiviral drugs if they have been diagnosed with the novel H1N1 swine flu virus .

Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC said that the reason that influenza is more risky for a pregnant woman is that pregnancy weakens a woman's immune system, and she is then more likely to suffer complications of the flu like pneumonia. Pregnant women with existing health conditions like asthma are especially at risk.

“We really want to get the word about the likely benefits of prompt antiviral treatment for pregnant women”, Schuchat said.

The CDC recommends that pregnant women with H1N1 flu (confirmed or suspected) should take the antiviral flu medicines for 5 days.

Pregnant women should also take into account that, studies of the flu medicines' effectiveness show that antiviral medicines are limited in their effectiveness. The medicines have proven that they can relieve flu symptoms and shorten the course of the flu virus by about a day.

In addition, flu medicines only work if they are started within 48 hours of the first flu symptoms , and little is known about whether they can actually lessen the severity of the flu and prevent serious complications.

So, pregnant women and nursing mothers should carefully consider their options. Antiviral drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza currently are effective for the swine flu, and the CDC is recommending their use for women (suspected of having swine flu) who are pregnant or nursing.

As always, pregnant mothers must also consider the risks (to their babies), of taking ANY medicines.

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