http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070218a9.html
Sunday, Feb. 18, 2007
Girl who fell may have taken Tamiflu
NAGOYA (Kyodo) A 14-year-old girl who died Friday after apparently falling from
an upper floor of a condominium in Aichi Prefecture may have taken the flu drug
Tamiflu before her death, police said Saturday.
Saiha Kokubo, a second-year junior high school student in Gamagori, was
diagnosed with influenza at a hospital on Friday and was prescribed Tamiflu, her
mother said, adding the girl is believed to have taken some of the tablets.
There have been reports that the antiviral drug may cause abnormal behavior
among some children leading to their deaths. The Health, Labor and Welfare
Ministry has denied any causal relation between the deaths and the drug.
Kokubo was found on the ground near the building and was later confirmed dead,
according to the police. She lived on the 10th floor.
------------------------------------------
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=63318
Roche Files Application In Europe For Tamiflu 30 And 45 Mg Capsules
Roche has filed an application with regulatory authorities in Europe requesting
an extension of the current Tamiflu license to include smaller capsules of 30 mg
and 45 mg in addition to the 75 mg capsule already registered. These lower
dosage strengths have been developed mainly for use in children for seasonal and
pandemic influenza, as an alternative to the suspension formulation.
---------------------------------------------------
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070227p2a00m0na015000c.html
Junior high school boy leaps to death from apartment complex after taking
Tamiflu
February 27, 2007
SENDAI -- A junior high school boy leaped to his death from a high-rise
apartment complex here in the early hours of Tuesday after taking Tamiflu, an
anti-flu drug that has been linked with erratic behavior, police said.
Local police are investigating the causal relationship between the medicine and
his death. They said the possibility that he committed suicide is slim, noting
that he had no particular trouble and left no suicide note.
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said the ministry will step
up efforts to see if there are causal relations between the anti-flu medicine
and children's erratic behavior. "The causal relationship (between Tamiflu and
jumping off buildings) has not been proven yet."
At around 1:20 a.m. on Tuesday, the 14-year-old boy plunged some 30 meters from
the 11th floor of an apartment block in Miyagino-ku, Sendai, investigators said.
He died shortly afterwards from massive head injuries.
The boy, a second-year student at a local junior high school, had been diagnosed
as suffering from influenza at a hospital on Monday morning, and took a Tamiflu
tablet at 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on the day.
He woke up late at night and complained that he felt ill. His 41-year-old mother
tried to give him another tablet, but decided not to do so because less than
eight hours had passed since he took one.
Shortly afterwards, he told his mother that he would go to the restroom, but
instead left his 11th-floor apartment, jumped over a 1.26-meter-high fence and
plunged to his death.
As of October 2006, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry had confirmed 16
cases in which children aged 16 or below showed erratic behavior and died after
taking Tamiflu. (Mainichi)