AG's warning: beware of H1N1 Internet offers

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel issued a consumer alert Friday to inform Arkansans of the risks of buying H1N1 (swine flu) treatments over the Internet. Although drugs that treat the disease are in high demand, purchasing them online can be very risky, he warned. The legitimate H1N1 preventative vaccine is not available online.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently purchased several drugs over the Internet that were marketed as treatments for H1N1 and found various problems with the pills it received. One set of pills contained only talc and acetaminophen, common ingredients in over-the-counter pain relievers. Four other "treatments" that came in contained the active ingredient in Tamiflu, but in varying amounts. None of the drugs arrived soon enough to treat a person with H1N1 even if the drugs were the real thing, McDaniel said. Additionally, none of the products were approved by the FDA for sale in the United States.

Additional risks exist when purchasing medications over the Internet, including:

* The drugs could be contaminated with ingredients that could cause severe problems if ingested;

* The drugs could react with other medicines that you are taking; and

* The drugs, if they do in fact contain the active ingredient for treating H1N1, could contain too little or too much to properly treat the disease.

"Consumers should be aware that by purchasing these drugs over the Internet, they are putting themselves at risk for life-threatening adverse effects," McDaniel said.

Tamiflu and Relenza are available only by prescription from one's doctor. Anyone who is prescribed these drugs, should only buy them from a properly licensed pharmacy.

For additional information about both H1N1 and the seasonal flu, visit the following sites:

* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov;

* The Food and Drug Administration, www.fda.gov

* The Arkansas Department of Health, www.healthyarkansas.com; and

* The World Health Organization, www.who.int.