Catbird
Senior Moderator
Peak of flu season months away, current shortage of Tamiflu
"The peak of the flu season isn't until late February or early March, but this year's flu season is already making its presence known in South Carolina.
Now doctors are reporting there is a shortage of Tamiflu, a drug doctors said they commonly prescribe to patients who have the flu.
Dr. Ron Reynolds with Beach Urgent Care said several pharmacies started calling his office last week saying they were almost out of Tamiflu.
"We made calls today and what we are finding is they are getting supplies in, but they are very limited maybe 10 bottles of Tamiflu every day or every other day" said Reynolds.
It is not uncommon for a doctor to prescribe Tamiflu for an entire family, Reynolds said.
"Basically if somebody comes in and they have the flu typically if supplies are available you also tend to treat the other people that are in the home."
However, Reynolds said this week he started only prescribing Tamiflu to the person in the family affected by the flu.
"When supplies are low you have to take the approach to where we'll treat who has it." "The people who are also in the household, unfortunately we just really can't treat them be"cause there's not enough in the community" said Reynolds.
"The peak of the flu season isn't until late February or early March, but this year's flu season is already making its presence known in South Carolina.
Now doctors are reporting there is a shortage of Tamiflu, a drug doctors said they commonly prescribe to patients who have the flu.
Dr. Ron Reynolds with Beach Urgent Care said several pharmacies started calling his office last week saying they were almost out of Tamiflu.
"We made calls today and what we are finding is they are getting supplies in, but they are very limited maybe 10 bottles of Tamiflu every day or every other day" said Reynolds.
It is not uncommon for a doctor to prescribe Tamiflu for an entire family, Reynolds said.
"Basically if somebody comes in and they have the flu typically if supplies are available you also tend to treat the other people that are in the home."
However, Reynolds said this week he started only prescribing Tamiflu to the person in the family affected by the flu.
"When supplies are low you have to take the approach to where we'll treat who has it." "The people who are also in the household, unfortunately we just really can't treat them be"cause there's not enough in the community" said Reynolds.