PEDIATRIC NEWS UPDATES Updates from November 2005

Nov. 21 - Tamiflu Deaths in Children
The FDA is looking into the deaths of 12 Japanese children who took Tamilflu – the popular drug used to combat Influenza. The investigation also includes reports of 32 “neuropsychiatric events” associated with Tamiflu – including delirium, hallucinations, convulsions and encephalitis. Click here for full story.

Dr Sears comment: There have been over 32 million people treated with Tamiflu, so we are bound to see a few reports like this. It seems that these adverse events were most likely caused by the Flu – not the medication. The report also goes on to say that the death rate for Influenza patients was much lower in people that used Tamiflu than in those that didn’t.

Dr. Jim