Tamiflu, FDA panel gives it the all clear

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Main Category: Flu / Cold / SARS
Article Date: 19 Nov 2005 - 14:00 PDT

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An FDA panel has found no link between the deaths of 12 children in Japan and Tamiflu, an antiviral drug governments around the world are stocking up on in preparation for a flu pandemic.

Of the 12 children who died while on the antiviral drug, one had a fall and most of the others had heart and/or lung failure. Japan has prescribed Tamiflu over 11 million times - all the patients were ill (with flu). A death rate of one per million is not alarming and would be expected anyway. Roche indicated that the incidences of deaths and psychiatric problems were well within the numbers expected among those with flu.

A spokesperson for Roche, the makers of Tamiflu, welcomed the ruling and said that the positive role of Tamiflu remains the same. Tamiflu will have a warning on the label about the possibility of skin reactions.

The panel also found no link between the 32 cases of psychiatric disturbance and the use of Tamiflu.

Tamiflu is an antiviral drug that offers patients infected with the H5N1 bird flu strain some chance of recovery. It is not a vaccine, it is an antiviral. It is administered to the patient when he/she is infected. The drug is very effective if given to the patient during the early stages of infection. Doctors say it is not effective if given later on.

The world is preparing for the 'imminent' arrival of a global flu pandemic. It is expected that the H5N1 bird flu virus will mutate, enabling it to spread among humans. At the moment it spreads easily among birds. Humans can catch it from birds, but not easily. Humans can pass it on to other humans, but this is extremely rare. Over 100 million birds have died as a result of bird flu since 2003. 123 humans have been infected since 2003, of which over 60 have died.

The bird flu H5N1 strain infects the lungs and causes inflammation ten times faster than the normal flu does. It has a death rate estimated at around 50%.

The most likely way the bird flu virus will mutate is by infecting a human who has the flu. It could then exchange genes with the human flu virus (mutate) and pick up the human flu virus' ability to spread among humans. If it keeps its own ability to infect and cause death it would spread rapidly around the world - we would have a flu pandemic.

The world bank has said the global cost of a flu pandemic could be $800 billion in the first year.

In 1918 Spanish Flu was a pandemic. It was a bird flu virus that mutated. 40 million people died around the world. The pandemic spread around the globe within 11 months. Half the deaths were among young and healthy adults. The world population at that time was less than one quarter of what it is now. Virtually nobody travelled by plane. A flu pandemic today would spread around the world within weeks.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today


Copyright: Medical News Today
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