Study: Meth may fight the flu
A group of scientists from the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan set out to study how methamphetamine interacts with influenza A virus in lung cells. Previous research has suggested that chronic meth abuse makes individuals more susceptible to pathogens such as HIV. The team wanted to investigate how the drug might reduce users’ resistance to flu viruses.
They took cultures of human lung epithelial cells, exposed them to different concentrations of meth and then infected them with an H1N1 strain of human influenza A. By 30 to 48 hours after infection, the meth-treated cells had a much lower concentration of the virus than the control group, the researchers reported. What’s more, this reduction occurred in a dose-dependent manner, meaning the more meth, the less the virus reproduced. …
No doctor would recommend that you take up a meth habit to fight the flu this winter, but the researchers said their study could help find other, safer compounds that have the same effect.
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HitNRun on November 7, 2012 at 10:38 PM
That’s why I keep a lab in my garage.
El_Terrible on November 7, 2012 at 10:43 PM
Awesome.
I like my meth head neighbors to be high and well armed. If they are flu-free then so much the better.
CorporatePiggy on November 7, 2012 at 10:44 PM
Time to start being a tweaker, I suppose. Who knew?
OmahaConservative on November 7, 2012 at 10:44 PM
So it’s an ephedrine substitute? God throws down the ultimate sarc/
Capitalist Hog on November 7, 2012 at 10:49 PM
Have they tried Plutonium yet, cause that might work too?
sharrukin on November 7, 2012 at 10:54 PM
Meth is good for you? Who knew… Good for the flu, bad for the teeth. And being awake for days on end is terrific for the Chinese worker.
kringeesmom on November 7, 2012 at 11:09 PM
Yeah, and Mercury cures Syphillis.
RDH on November 7, 2012 at 11:12 PM
Is this kind of like chemotherapy, then? It’s bad for us but bad for flu bugs too?
TexasDan on November 7, 2012 at 11:40 PM
Too funny CP
Heck please just legalize it already. When tainted Kool-Aid isn’t potent enough, this has gotta be enough to derail the electorate in next go-round.
wubu on November 7, 2012 at 11:51 PM
$15 wasted on a flu shot.
Xavier on November 8, 2012 at 12:06 AM
Actually, it does. The problem is that it also kills you. Slowly, and with much pain.
TKindred on November 8, 2012 at 12:11 AM
If that was true then no one in Eugene, Oregon would ever get the flu.
Jesse on November 8, 2012 at 12:13 AM
I don’t know how people take that crap, I really don’t. Back when I was young during the early 90′s rave scene we took a lot of regular speed at parties. And boy do you feel like death the next day. The paranoia, the feeling of utter doom, the aural hallucinations, and trying to get to sleep with eyes that refuse to close. I’ve been told that meth is 20x stronger than this. What the hell is the incentive? Is it the (supposedly) incredible sex?
Sharke on November 8, 2012 at 12:13 AM
What I’ve heard is there is an unending craving and yet the body does not respond. So they say they spend all day pulling taffy.
What this study means is that methheads are useless even to flu viruses.
pedestrian on November 8, 2012 at 12:58 AM
Hey, death also gets rid of the flu!
Who knew, right?
laurakbarr on November 8, 2012 at 1:59 AM
Guys there’s a scientific reason for this.
One of the key ingredients to make Methamphetamine is Sudafed… or rather Pseudoephedrine. Pesudoephedrine is the active ingredient which clears nasal passages, fights nasal pressure, and in general relieve’s flu symptoms.
Of course Meth is going to have all sorts of really bad side effects but one of the key components will still do it’s intended job.
Chaz706 on November 8, 2012 at 4:28 AM
And while I’m at it (completely spaced it)… there’s this one guy who (partially in jest) wrote a scientific paper on the subject of isolating a usable form of Pseudoephedrine from Crystal Meth.
With how difficult it is to get my hands on Sudafed at times… I might just have to revisit said paper.
Chaz706 on November 8, 2012 at 4:30 AM
So is Breaking Bad‘s next season filming in Taiwan or something?
ProfShadow on November 8, 2012 at 6:58 AM
Many flu-symptom medicines had ephidrine in them for many years. Ephidrine is chemically very close to meth. But due to high-profile deaths from ephidrine, the substance was banned and all the medicines that used it replaced it with something called “pseudo-ephidrine”… no clue what that is.
Anyway, the relationship between meth and fighting flu is not news.
AlexB on November 8, 2012 at 8:29 AM
Knott Buyinit on November 8, 2012 at 8:39 AM