Dr. Komarovsky about the antiviral drug "Anaferon"

"Anaferon children" - this name is known almost everywhere. Pediatricians very often prescribe this advertised antiviral drug to their young patients, parents without a prescription and often without recommendations of the doctor buy this drug at the pharmacy and give it to their babies at the first sneeze and for the prevention of influenza and ARVI.

What is "Anaferon" really? Is its universal use justified? Can it hurt? Quite often, these questions have to be answered by the well-known children's doctor Yevgeny Komarovsky.

Evgeny Olegovich Komarovsky is a pediatrician of the highest category, born in Ukraine. He was widely known after a series of publications and books for adults on children's health. It has a rare talent for doctors - to explain difficult things to parents who are far from medicine. This was noticed by representatives of the media space, now Komarovsky is a famous TV presenter, author of the program “School of Doctor Komarovsky” and the author of the section on health on “Russian Radio”. He lives in Ukraine. The doctor is very popular with millions of moms and dads in Russia and the CIS countries, as well as abroad.

"Anaferon" - a homeopathic remedy. Doses of active ingredients in solutions in it are presented in negligible quantities.

This fact can not but rejoice the whole army of moms and dads who want to protect their offspring from the terrible and dangerous flu.

In pharmacies sell tablets for sucking or chewing "Anaferon" and "Anaferon for children." You should not be a great detective and have an incredible deduction method to understand that the separation into adult and child dosage is nothing more than a marketing ploy, since the concentration of the main active ingredient in them is absolutely the same - 3 mg. It is written on the packaging.

The instructions indicate that Anaferon has an immunomodulatory effect and an immunostimulating effect on viruses. In addition, it is emphasized that the tool enhances the immune response at the cellular level, however, the mechanism of such exposure is not specified at all, as is done in the instructions in official pharmaceutical preparations.

Manufacturers recommend starting to take the drug as soon as possible - at the first sign of a beginning flu or ARVI according to a special scheme - the first 2 hours - every half hour on a tablet, then three more doses at the same time intervals, and then - on a tablet three times a day until recovery.

It should be noted that all antiviral drugs with proven clinical effectiveness is a big problem. And at homeopathic remedies it is twice as much. If you believe the information posted on the website of the manufacturer Anaferon, the drug was still clinically tested, despite the fact that homeopathic remedies are usually not examined in the laboratory, because they contain minimal doses of active substances, and this research becomes simply impossible for this reason. .

So, there is information about the tests of "Anferon" on a group of children by doctors of St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk. But in both cases, the number of subjects was not indicated, the exact age limits of the experiment, and therefore the test reports do not contain specific statistics, resemble an essay on the subject “How Anaferon reduced morbidity” and cannot be taken seriously by scientists and fundamental physicians.

Evgeny Komarovsky treats “Anaferon” rather ironically, emphasizing that the demand for the drug is not based on its effectiveness, but on the demand of buyers. Evgeny Olegovich considers this homeopathic remedy to be absolutely useless. This is not a categorical denial, but a statement of facts - Komarovsky is sure that his colleagues, pediatricians, appoint Anaferon so often because they are well aware of its uselessness, and hence its complete harmlessness.

As a result, the doctor is calm, because, as they say, “there is no harm and no good”, and the parents are calm - the baby receives “treatment”. The placebo effect works. As a result, the child’s immunity copes with viruses on its own, as one would expect, and a positive outcome is attributed to the sweet tablets of Anaferon.

But actually the release of Dr. Komarovsky, where the pediatrician tells us all about children's antivirals.

If you believe the reviews of those mothers whose children “Anaferon” helped, then their viral infection retreated for 4-5 days. Komarovsky confirms that it is exactly this time that the child’s immunity is needed to cope with the invasion from outside. If the immune protection of the baby is weak, then the disease is delayed, and the parents write about such cases on the Internet that “Anaferon” did not help. In other words, the same effect would be if the parents did not give the child any medication at all.

The amount of the active substance is extremely small, emphasizes the well-known doctor to cure at least something, but the sugar content of each tablet is quite large. It seems that the producers of Anaferon try to treat the child with sugar. And this is complete absurdity.

All parents are invited to see the release of Dr. Komarovsky on self-medication.

• Waiver of the use of "Anaferon", including its children's version. This is a waste of money, says the doctor. It is better to spend this amount (about 150 rubles) on fruits for a sick child, there will be much more benefit from them.

• Disclaimer of other homeopathic remedies. Their effectiveness for children and adults is not proven, the Ministry of Health does not answer for the result that arose during the application. Tests conducted at the initiative of the manufacturer, are usually carried out in violation of all criteria important for the test of the drug.

• If a child is sick with influenza or ARVI, the best thing that parents can do for him is to create favorable conditions for recovery. More often to drink warm compotes, tea, broths, monitor sufficient moisture in the children's room, provide the bed rest for the baby. In severe illness, be sure to invite the pediatrician to the house.

• In order for the toddler not to get sick with the flu, it is not at all necessary to take homeopathic remedies, including the children’s Anaferon, for prevention. It will be much more useful if the child begins to walk more often in the open air, play sports, get good nutrition, rich in vitamins and microelements.

• If your local pediatrician still assigns the child "Anaferon", Komarovsky recommends that you ask such a specialist to justify how this particular homeopathic medicine will help your child. It is unlikely that there will be a pediatrician that reasonably answer this question.

Let's work with Dr. Komarovsky on what child immunity is, how to improve it, and if there is a magic pill for raising immunity.