Tamiflu prevents pneumonia in children , study find

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Children with flu who are given Tamiflu, Roche AG's influenza pill, are 53 percent less likely to develop pneumonia than untreated children, the company reported on Friday.

And a second study showed that giving Tamiflu to very sick adults with influenza reduced their risk of death by 71 percent.

The studies, presented at the Interscience Congress on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, held in San Francisco, bolster earlier studies that show the drug can prevent the most serious consequences of influenza.

Seasonal flu affects hundreds of millions of people every year. In the United States alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that flu kills 36,000 people every year and puts up to 200,000 in the hospital.

Around the world, influenza kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people every year. Most of the severe illnesses and deaths are due to pneumonia, sometimes caused by a bacterial or secondary infection.

Tamiflu, or oseltamivir, made by Roche under license from Gilead Sciences, can reduce the severity of infection, as can a rival drug, Relenza, made by GlaxoSmithKline. Older flu drugs no longer work well and are not recommended.

Researchers studied the health insurance records of more than 15,000 children aged one to 12. About 2.6 percent of them came down with pneumonia.

Children who received Tamiflu within one day of an influenza diagnosis were 53 percent less likely to develop pneumonia, compared with children who were not given the drug.

"This study suggests that early treatment with Tamiflu can have a significant impact on pneumonia, one of flu's most serious complications, which takes a considerable toll on children," said Dominick Iacuzio, medical director at Roche.

A second study presented at the same conference showed Tamiflu could reduce deaths in severely ill adults with flu. "Treatment of infected adults was associated with a 71 per cent reduction in mortality," the company said.

Dr. Allison McGeer and colleagues at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada studied 512 patients admitted to hospital with influenza.

They said 84 percent were treated with antibiotics, which are aimed at stopping bacterial infections, and 32 percent got antivirals, mostly Tamiflu, but the older drug amantadine was also administered to a few.

"Of all adult patients, 6.4 percent of patients died and these deaths were attributed to influenza," Roche said.

But those given an antiviral were much less likely to die.

Many countries are stocking up on Tamiflu because of the risk of H5N1 avian flu. It mainly affects birds but experts fear it could mutate into a strain capable of killing millions of people in a global pandemic. It has killed 148 people out of 251 infected in 10 countries since 2003.

Tamiflu is now routinely given to bird flu victims and doctors say if given quickly enough, it appears to save lives.

The
CDC says the best protection against flu is an annual vaccine, but that does not prevent influenza perfectly, especially in older adults, and many people fail to get immunized.