South Korean Teenager Jumps From Apartment Window After Taking Tamiflu

[Gert van der Hoek]

14 November, 2009 15:49 PM

South Korean Teenager Jumps From Apartment Window After Taking Tamiflu

SEOUL, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- A South Korean teenager who took Tamiflu, an antiviral drug, leaped from an apartment window after suffering from auditory hallucination, China's Xinhua news agency said citing a local media report on Saturday.

According to the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA), the country's drug safety watchdog, the 14-year-old student living in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province near capital Seoul, took Tamiflu on Oct 30, and was later found at the bottom of his family's apartment building on the same day.

Local media said he is likely to have jumped from his family's sixth-floor apartment after he fell asleep. He had just returned from the hospital where he was prescribed to take Tamiflu for his high fever.

He suffered serious bone fractures on his leg and arms, but none of the injuries were life-threatening, the reports added.

It is the first report of hallucinations as a side effect of Tamiflu in the country, a KFDA official told media, noting that the KFDA and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will launch an investigation to find out whether there are any links between the drug and the case.

As the A/H1N1 flu is spreading rapidly in South Korea, Tamiflu is regarded as a specific drug for the treatment.

The KFDA has issued safety warnings on the use of Tamiflu in 2007 following reports of bizarre behaviour by users of the drug in Japan.

It advised medical experts to report immediately to officials when witnessing similar mental symptoms.

In the neighbouring Japan, Tamiflu is advised not to be given to teenagers.

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/bm/newsworld.php?id=455167

 

[Missouriwatcher]

Re: South Korean Teenager Jumps From Apartment Window After Taking Tamiflu

My 21-year-old son took Tamilflu for flu symptoms and experienced auditory hallucinations (telling him to kill himself) after taking it for two-and-a-half days (5 pills). Fortunately, he was able to tell me and I took him off Tamiflu. At the time the incident happened, he was not running a fever, but perhaps a below normal one. He recovered without another incident.

I encourage anyone who has experienced this type of side-effect to report it to the FDA Medwatch http://www.fda.gov/safety/MedWatch/default.htm

 

[Roehl_JC]

Re: South Korean Teenager Jumps From Apartment Window After Taking Tamiflu

Tamiflu, an anti-viral drug to treat the H1N1 influenza virus, had nothing to do with a teenager?s attempted suicide, health authorities said yesterday.

A 14-year-old boy in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province who had taken Tamiflu leapt from an apartment building Oct. 30.


The center for countermeasures against influenza at the Health, Welfare and Family Affairs Ministry said, ?After conducting an epidemiological study and consulting experts, we have concluded there was little possibility that Tamiflu caused him to kill himself. He took just one dose of the anti-viral drug.?


The boy had sought medical attention due to high fever Oct. 29 and was prescribed Tamiflu. The following day, he went to bed after taking the medicine but woke up from a nightmare and jumped from his sixth-floor apartment.


He is receiving treatment at Soonchunhyang University Hospital.


The healthy teenager took Tamiflu along with antibiotics, antihistaminic and painkiller. A complete medical examination found that he suffered no problems in his brain and spine.


The incident has raised speculation that Tamiflu can cause certain changes in a teenager?s brain, leading to erratic behavior.


In Japan, a series of teen suicides in 2007 found that they took Tamiflu. Since the sale of the anti-viral drug was permitted in 2001, Japan had been the world?s largest consumer of Tamiflu from 2001 to 2007 with up 70 percent of global consumption. With the number of teenagers who jumped to their deaths from a building or in front of trucks increasing, fear over the adverse effects of the drug has risen.


According to a survey by the Japanese Health Ministry of 137 teen seasonal flu patients from 2006 through 2007 who either rushed out from their houses on an impulse or jumped from a building, 82 of them or 60 percent were found to have taken Tamiflu.


The ministry conducted another survey in June of 10,000 children under age 18 and banned medical institutions from prescribing Tamiflu for those under 18. It said the relationship between Tamiflu and odd behavior cannot be proven nor denied.


If taking Tamiflu is necessary, a teenager should be monitored for two days, the ministry said.


In the wake of the suicides, distrust in Tamiflu among the Japanese is rising. The ministry said 12 million doses of Tamiflu and 12.7 million doses of Relenza, another antiviral drug for the flu, will be provided from September through March next year. Though the stockpiles of the two medicines are almost the same, the increase rates of supply are different. The stockpile of Tamiflu grew 2.6 times from last year, but that of Relenza jumped 6.7 times over the same period.


Kwon Joon-wook, in charge of infectious diseases at Korea?s Health, Welfare and Family Affairs Ministry, said, ?Experts say that adverse effects occur when a full day or two days of doses of a medicine are taken,? adding, ?Similar cases have been reported in the United States and Japan, but no relationship between the medicine and strange behavior has been established.?


Close monitoring, however, has been recommended for young children and teenagers if they take the medicine for prevention purposes.

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=040000&biid=2009111606328

 

[Missouriwatcher]

Re: South Korean Teenager Jumps From Apartment Window After Taking Tamiflu

"Tamiflu causes nausea and nightmares in children

More than half of children taking antiviral drug Tamiflu suffer side-effects such as nausea, insomnia and nightmares, UK researchers have said.

Almost one in five (18 percent) of the children reported a "neuropsychiatric side effect," such as poor concentration, inability to think clearly, problems sleeping, feeling dazed or confused, bad dreams or nightmares and "behaving strangely," researchers said."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/31/tamiflu.side.effects/index.html