Oxford researchers warn against giving Tamiflu to children

August 10, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

www.breakingnews.ie

Children should not be given the anti-viral drug Tamiflu to combat swine flu, Oxford University researchers said today.

They urged the British Department of Health to urgently rethink its policy on giving the drugs to youngsters affected by the current flu pandemic.

Some 300,000 people in England, including children and adults, have received courses of Tamiflu through the British government’s National Pandemic Flu Service for England.

Today’s study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), warned that Tamiflu can cause vomiting in some children, which can lead to dehydration and the need for hospital treatment.

The researchers said children should not be given the drug if they have a mild form of the illness although they urged parents and GPs to remain vigilant for signs of complications.

Parents of children with a compromised immune system or a condition like cystic fibrosis should discuss the harms and benefits with their GP, they said.

However, overall, the researchers said, children who were otherwise healthy could suffer more harm than benefit from taking Tamiflu or another anti-viral, Relenza.

They found the drugs had little or no effect on asthma flare-ups, ear infections or the likelihood of a youngster needing antibiotics.

The researchers also found that using anti-virals preventatively had little effect – reducing transmission of flu by 8%.

This means 13 children would have to be treated to prevent one additional case of the flu.

However, anti-virals could reduce symptoms by between half a day and one day.

Dr Carl Heneghan, a GP and clinical lecturer at Oxford University, said the current policy of giving Tamiflu for mild illness was an “inappropriate strategy”.

He added: “The downside of the harms outweigh the one-day reduction in symptomatic benefits.”

He and Dr Matthew Thompson, a GP and senior clinical scientist at Oxford University, analysed four studies involving children aged one to 12.

The children were being treated for normal seasonal flu but Dr Thompson said the findings would extend to the current swine flu pandemic.

“I don’t think we have got any reason to think our results would be any different,” he said.

“The current swine flu is generally a mild flu illness…it does not seem that different from current seasonal flu.” Read full article…