New Research Claims Anti-virals Unhelpful in Treating Children With Swine Flu

What!?

Flu drugs 'unhelpful' in children

The antiviral drugs being used to treat swine flu do not appear to work well in children, say UK researchers.

Their work in the British Medical Journal shows Tamiflu and Relenza rarely prevent complications in children who have normal seasonal flu.

Although it is hard to generalise this to the current swine flu pandemic, they say these drugs are unlikely to help children who catch the H1N1 virus.

Side effects and the risk of resistance developing may negate their use.

This would be a major shift in the approach to treatment of swine flu in children.

Not to mention a big mistake, given that tens of thousands of children must have been given these drugs already.

This is the clincher, months into this pandemic they say this:

They told the BMJ: "While morbidity and mortality in the current pandemic remain low, a more conservative strategy might be considered prudent, given the limited data, side effects such as vomiting, and the potential for developing resistant strains of influenza."

Which is what all us foil hat wearers have been saying from the outset.

Now all these kids have had their anti-virals, and when the time comes when they actually need them, they wil not be as effective.



[edit on 10-8-2009 by kiwifoot]