The Best Way to Beat the Flu is an article about the flu virus and measures you can take to try and prevent or treat an outbreak. The article suggests getting a flu shot to help reduce your chances of getting the flu, or to minimize the severity outbreak. It mentions that getting the shot is not a sure way to prevent the flu because it only guards against three strains chosen to be the most likely to cause an epidemic for that year. Another method mentioned is taking older medications like Flumadine and Symmetrel, which protect only against influenza A and have side effects such as dizziness, insomnia, and confusion. The newest but not yet approved way, is to take newer flu drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza to decrease you chances by half of coming down with flu after exposure. Tamiflu and Relenza were approved by the FDA last year to be used by adults who had the flu virus to shorten and weaken the case of the flu. However, there is a controversy in use of both these drugs!
             . It is due partly because of a few cases of the hospitalization and/or death of patients who had currently taken the drugs. Though later investigation showed that the deaths were caused by bacterial infections that were misdiagnosed as the flu, some still argue that cutting a day or two off of the flu doesn't justify a trip to the doctor and possible side effects.
             In my opinion this article was a little bit biased about using drugs for illnesses somewhat minor, like the flu. They did not talk about anyone who was against using medication for the flu in general, only people who were against certain methods. They made it appear as though something needed to be done to prevent or cure the flu instead of taking a bigger chance of catching the flu and letting your immune system do the dirty work, that is after all what it is made for.
             The article also lacked information containing the side effects of some of the medications. They do tell you the si...