Swine Flu

Flu drugs ‘unhelpful’ in children

The WHO reiterated its recommendation that children who are severely ill with the flu, or who have underlying health problems that put them at high risk for complications of the disease, should be treated with Roche’s Tamiflu or GSK’s Relenza.

The WHO statement came after an analysis published this week in the British Medical Journal concluded that the drugs do shorten the duration of the disease in children, but only by about a day.

Tamiflu appeared to cause vomiting in one in 20 children, the authors found.

Research has cast doubt on the policy of giving antiviral drugs to children for swine flu.

Work in the British Medical Journal shows Tamiflu and Relenza rarely prevent complications in children with seasonal flu, yet carry side effects.

Although they did not test this in the current swine flu pandemic, the authors say these drugs are unlikely to help children who catch the H1N1 virus.

The UK government has stuck by its policy of offering them to anyone infected.

The Department of Health said a “safety-first approach” of offering antivirals to everyone remained a sensible and responsible way forward, but promised to keep the policy under review.

There were an estimated 30,000 new cases of swine flu in England in the last week, a drop compared with the 110,000 cases the week before.

A decreased incidence has also been seen in Scotland and Wales in the past week.

The total of swine flu-related deaths in England and Scotland stands at 41.

Antivirals are the mainstay of treatment at the moment until a vaccine becomes available, which is expected in September.