As of January 9th, there were six reported cases of suicides of people after taking Tamiflu. This information is according to the 2013-2018 Current Status of Side Effects and Abnormalities Report on Tamiflu Dose, which is conducted by the Ministry of Food Drug Safety, Health Insurance Review, and Assessment Service. The statistics however exclude a case of a middle school student who fell down after taking Tamiflu in December last year. The young girl fell from an apartment veranda because she was allegedly disoriented from taking medicine. Because of this recent incident, the public has been paying keen attention, saying that it is related to the use of the flu medicine.
Kim Seung-hee of the Liberty Korea Party a member of the Health and Welfare Committee said, “Since the side effects of Tamiflu are an issue that has been raised over time, it should be noted whether the health authorities have acted appropriately on the side effects.”
A problem is that while the side effects of the flu drug are serious, health authorities are only emphasizing the responsibility of families who have suffered. Moreover, this accident has no clear cause-effect about the vaccine and side effects. The UFDA, U.S Food and Drug Administration, admitted that there are some side effects such as vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, and fatigue.
Yet, UFDA did not conclude that serious mental changes were only the side effects of Tamiflu because of the possibility that they could also appear like the flu.
Recently, Seoul National University Hospital surveyed patients who took Tamiflu. Through the latest epidemiological evidence, use of Tamiflu requires attention as it is highly likely to cause a variety of harmful reactions, including neurological symptoms such as hallucination and auditory hallucination, especially in children and adolescents.
Just because there is a high probability of side effects in the young ages does not guarantee that adults are safe. Therefore, they also should take it correctly, paying attention to the side effects. The best way to prevent the flu is to be extra careful because it could come regardless with the season. Furthermore, pharmacists and doctors should not pass the responsibilities to others. They have duties about letting patients know how to take medicines correctly. Also, they have caution patients about the adverse effects of the medicines patients use.
