Health alert over Tamiflu, bird flu spreads in Myanmar

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese health officials issued an alert over giving flu drug Tamiflu to teenagers on Wednesday as Myanmar reported a further outbreak of bird flu in poultry.

Tamiflu is regarded as one of the main drugs effective against a bird flu pandemic, but a series of cases, including teen suicides in Japan, have fueled concern the drug could induce psychiatric symptoms. Swiss drug-maker Roche said on Tuesday that new data from Japan and the United States indicated there was no established causal link between Tamiflu and psychiatric symptoms.

But early on Wednesday, Japan's Health Ministry said it had ordered the importer of Tamiflu to warn doctors against giving it to teenagers after two new cases of abnormal behavior were reported.

Two teenagers injured themselves in February and March by falling from buildings after taking the drug, a ministry news release said.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKSP3962820070321