flu virus

[Guest guest]

Here is an article from the english press, the makers of the anti-virus may have

an agreement with the US government that they cannot be held responsible for any

side effects but they dont have that agreement in this country !!!! I see a lot

of cases coming up here, this is just the start

 

Vince

Press release:

More than half of children taking Tamiflu suffer side-effects such as nausea,

insomnia and nightmares, researchers have said. Skip related content

Two studies from experts at the Health Protection Agency (HPA) showed a " high

proportion " of British schoolchildren reporting problems after taking the

anti-viral drug.

 

Data was gathered from children at three schools in London and one in the South

West who were given Tamiflu earlier this year after classmates became infected.

 

The researchers behind one study said that, although children may have

attributed symptoms that were due to other illnesses to the use of Tamiflu,

" this is unlikely to account for all the symptoms experienced " .

 

Their research, published in Eurosurveillance, looked at side-effects reported

by 11 and 12-year-old pupils in one school year in a secondary school in South

West England. The school was closed for 10 days in response to a pupil being

confirmed with swine flu on return from a holiday in Cancun, Mexico.

 

A total of 248 pupils took part in the study and were given Tamiflu

prophylactically. Compliance with prophylaxis was high, with 77% of children

taking the full course, the researchers said. But they added: " Fifty-one per

cent experienced symptoms such as feeling sick (31.2%), headaches (24.3%) and

stomach ache (21.1%).

 

The researchers said " likely side-effects were common " and the " burden of

side-effects needs to be considered " when deciding on giving Tamiflu to children

prophylactically. The researchers concluded that a " high proportion of school

children may experience side-effects of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) medication " .

 

A spokesman from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

said it was monitoring reported side-effects by GPs and the public. Between

April 1 and July 23, the MHRA received a total of 150 reports of 241 suspected

side-effects for Tamiflu and five reports for another anti-viral, Relenza.

 

Government chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson said Tamiflu should still be

given to children if they have established symptoms and there are no existing

medical reasons not to prescribe the drug.

 

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: " All drugs do have side-effects. It is

always a case of deciding the balance between benefiting a patient from a

treatment and the side-effects. Most of the side-effects are relatively minor -

a degree of nausea, a bit of a tummy upset, the sort of thing you get quite

often with antibiotics. "