Word: tamiflu
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...anti-Tamiflu forces in Japan are led by Dr. Rokuro Hama, an epidemiologist and internal medicine specialist who heads the Japan Institute of Pharmacovigilance, a medical industry watchdog. Hama believes that Tamiflu can directly cause temporary neurological disorders in a small percentage of users - especially young people. That can lead to abnormal behavior, such as a seemingly happy, healthy teenager suddenly deciding to leap off a high-rise apartment building. Hama also notes that the Tamiflu doses taken in Japan can be as much as 10 times greater than the normal amount taken in the U.S., which could aggravate...
...Hama notes, however, that it was around that same time that Tamiflu became widely used in the country. (Tamiflu is taken far more often here than in any other country; Japanese doctors prescribed the drug 24.5 million times between 2001 and 2005,compared to just 6.5 million prescriptions in the U.S.) Cases that included neurological side effects seemed to spike at the same time that Tamiflu prescriptions rose in Japan. Nevertheless, it is possible that the side effects accompanied the disease and that more such extreme cases were seen because doctors were looking harder...
...That hypothesis was bolstered by a Ministry of Health study last year that investigated 2,800 influenza cases and found that virtually the same percentage of victims showed abnormal behavior whether or not they had taken Tamiflu. Still, the recent spate of suspicious deaths was enough for the ministry late last month to issue a general warning that influenza can cause psychiatric problems. For its part the FDA last autumn reviewed 103 cases of neuropsychiatric events associated with Tamiflu use - 95% of the cases came from Japan - and concluded that it could not conclude whether the events were...
...required Roche, the Swiss company that makes the drug, to put a caution on Tamiflu labels urging patients, doctors and parents to look out for strange behavior in anyone taking Tamiflu. Roche accepted the label change but, said a spokesperson, ?these events are extremely rare in relation to the number of patients treated.? The company reiterates that none of the cases were linked to Tamiflu...
...Tamiflu were only needed for normal, seasonal influenza, this debate wouldn't matter outside Japan. In most Western countries Tamiflu, which can speed up recovery from the flu by a day or so at most, has barely been used. It's only been in prescription drug-happy Japan, where the government effectively made Tamiflu free, that the drug became popular before bird flu made it a household word. But because Tamiflu has been one of the few drugs to show effectiveness against H5N1 avian flu, it has become the key pharmacological component in international pandemic preparation plans. If a pandemic...