DIARY OF A BIOCHEM MAJOR

Oh no! The bird-swine-dog-cat-thinggrowinginthefridge-flu is spreading! Its going to be a pandemic that’s going to wipe out humanity! What will we ever do?!

Don’t worry Tamiflu is here to save the day! Tamiflu, also known as Oseltamivir, is one of the few drugs out there that can actually treat the flu, not only the symptoms. The cool thing about this drug is that its not actually that useful until it gets to the liver. Once it arrives to the liver, it is converted into its active form. Once it gets converted, it can head out into the body to do its job. It actually doesn’t prevent the virus from leaving the cell though. The virus can still infect the cell and create new viruses, but those viruses are then prevented from actually leaving the infected cell. Tamiflu prevents an enzyme (viral neuraminidase) of the surface of the virus from working right. Viral neuraminidase usually allows the virus to escape from the cell via budding but the converted form of Tamiflu swoops in blocks the viral neuraminidase from working thus preventing the virus from spreading. Basically the virus can still attack cells, but it can’t leave. Eventually the immune system comes in and wipes out the remaining viruses.

Funny thing is, I’m actually allergic to Tamiflu. I found that out freshman year at Tech when I took some after the doctor thought I was coming down with the flu. I got a small rash on my arm and when I called the doctor to ask if that was normal I found out that it could be a potentially serious side effect. Even better, according to the doctor one of the serious side effects was “waking up and not being able to breathe”. Yea sleeping was fun that night.