TX:
More Tamiflu being taken than needed, doctors say
Posted Friday, Oct. 02, 2009
By JAN JARVIS
jjarvis@star-telegram.com
http://www.star-telegram.com/fortworth/story/1657357.html#none
After the quick flu death of a healthy Benbrook teenager this week, more parents are demanding that their children be given Tamiflu when they come down with flu-like symptoms.
“No question about it, more Tamiflu is being prescribed than is really needed,” said Dr. John Menchaca, a Fort Worth pediatrician. “But unfortunately the level of anxiety for families is currently quite high.”
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released about 22,000 doses of liquid Tamiflu to Texas this week, but it’s still being distributed to pharmacies and clinics, said Doug McBride, spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.
There’s a limited supply in Tarrant County.
“Right now you can get Tamiflu, but it’s not easy,” said Dr. Donald Murphey, an infectious-disease pediatrician for Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth.
And what is available should be reserved for those who need it most, including pregnant women and people with underlying medical conditions, he said.
Saudi Arabia reports new swine flu deaths
Saturday, October 3, 2009
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/10031322.htm
DUBAI: With four new cases of swine flu deaths, the total number of casualties linked to the A(H1N1) virus rose to thirty-five in the country. Three Saudi nationals and a foreigner, who was not identified, were the latest victims who died on Thursday Sau di Arabia’s Ministry of Health Ministry said in a statement released to Saudi press agency.
However, the Ministry had earlier said that no swine flu death case was reported among pilgrims during the month of Ramadan. Meanwhile, in Qatar the Supreme Council of Health has confirmed that all schools in the country will reopen on October 4, even as a senior official highlighted the WHO recommendation for closure of any school with more than 1 percent of students infected with the H1N1 swine flu.