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Not at all! In fact, Tamiflu is not really suitable for anybody, children or adults. It is being highly recommended by doctors and government health authorities not because it is good, but because medical science has nothing better to offer.
Antiviral drugs like Relenza and Tamiflu for children and adults are generally not effective. They do not cure the flu, but only reduce flu symptoms by about one day,
At the same time, they produce some serious side effects, including neuropsychiatric effects on the mind and nervous system. These include delirium, abnormal behaviour, self-injury and suicide!
With regards specifically Tamiflu for children, two things have become increasingly clear as more scientific research gets done:
Deaths in Japan
The first indications that Tamiflu for children may not be suitable arose in Japan, where doctors reported several cases of abnormal and "bizarre behaviour" among children and young people who took the drug.
Japan is the country where Tamiflu is most widely prescribed. Over a four-year period, 24.5 million Tamiflu prescriptions were written in Japan, compared to 6.5 million in the US even though the US has twice the population of Japan. And about half of the prescriptions in Japan were prescriptions of Tamiflu for children and teenagers.
The drug was introduced in 1999 and by 2006, more than 200 cases of death were reported in Japan. More alarmingly, the frequency of reports was increasing, with about half of the cases reported between 2005 and 2006.
Several of those cases resulted in suicide, even though the children / teenagers involved did not previously display suicidal tendencies or signs of depression. They simply committed suicide for no apparent reason. In other cases, the abnormal behaviour of children -- such as sudden running or jumping -- resulted in death from road accidents and other causes. Details of some of these reports can be found at DrugLib.com.
Other reports of strange behaviour from taking Tamiflu included:
Of course, these deaths and other side effects have not been conclusively proven to be caused by Tamiflu, merely "suspected". Experts have noted, however, that in the majority of cases, the symptoms ceased after use of the drug was discontinued.
The suspicion is strong enough for Japan's Welfare Ministry to ban the prescription of Tamiflu for children and teenagers aged 10 to 20 in March 2007. South Korea imposed a similar ban on Tamiflu for children shortly after. And in June 2009, researchers at Japan's Health Ministry agreed to uphold the ban on Tamiflu "as long as the possible causal relationship between its use and abnormal behavior is unclear."
The latest decision was based on a survey of about 10,000 flu patients, conducted by the Japanese Health Ministry between 2006 and 2007. The survey found the risk of abnormal behaviour was 1.54 times higher among teens who took Tamiflu than those who did not take it.
New warning labels
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New Tamiflu warnings
Precautions Patients with influenza should be closely monitored for signs of abnormal behavior. If neuropsychiatric symptoms occur, the risks and benefits of continuing treatment should be evaluated for each patient. Possible side effects These events are uncommon, but may result in accidental injury to the patient. Therefore, patients should be observed for signs of unusual behavior and a healthcare professional should be contacted immediately if the patient shows any signs of unusual behavior. - new warnings on Tamiflu |
Although the US did not impose a similar ban on prescriptions of Tamiflu for children, the US Food and Drug Administration in November 2006 required both Tamiflu and Relenza to carry new warning labels that mention "unusual behaviour" such as confusion and self-injury.
Subsequently, there had been several calls for the warning labels to be revised with stronger wording that specifically mentions the possibility of death. In March 2008, the warnings under both "precautions" and "possible side effects" were revised.
Latest UK studies
All along, however, the effects of Tamiflu were said to be "uncommon".
On 31 July 2009, howevver, UK newspapers reported new research findings which suggest that about 50 percent of children who take Tamiflu experience side effects that include nausea and nightmares.
The study found that nausea was the most frequently reported side effect, followed by stomach pain or cramps, and sleeping problems. Almost one in five reported suffering poor concentration, feeling dazed or confused, and “behaving strangely”.
The study was conducted by the Health Protection Agency at three London schools in April and May. During that period, Tamiflu was widely prescribed as a precautionary measure and if just one student in a classroom got the flu, the entire class was given the drug. This practice of freely prescribing Tamiflu for children has since stopped.
A second study, released on 10 August by the British Medical Journal, again cast doubts on the usefulness and wisdom of prescribing antiviral drugs like Relenza and Tamiflu for children. This study showed that while antivirals can shorten the duration of normal seasonal flu in children by up to a day and a half, the drugs have little or no effect on asthma flare-ups, ear infections or the likelihood of children needing antibiotics.
This second study was conducted by a University of Oxford team, led by Dr Matthew Thompson. It carried out a review of four trials on the treatment of seasonal flu in 1,766 children and three trials involving the use of antiviral to limit the spread of seasonal flu in 863 children.
Dr Thompson said: "Our research is finding for most children these antiviral drugs are probably not going to have much of an effect." Added Co-researcher Dr Carl Heneghan: "The downside of the harms outweigh the one-day reduction in symptomatic benefits." Dr Heneghan further described prescriptions of Tamiflu for children as an "inappropriate strategy".
As for using Tamiflu to prevent the flu, the study found that 13 people needed to be treated with the drug just to prevent one additional case. This means that antiviral drugs reduce flu transmission by a mere 8 percent.