Tamiflu and Suicide Risk Link - We do Have Relenza...
If you were scared by the screaming headline from The Age recently which suggested how far reaching Swine Flu would be, then their latest effort is going to send you into mass panic mode. At least that's what The Age would like to happen.
"Swine Flu to Hit One in Five as Virus continues to Spread", so said The Age recently. It's a definitive statement - it will happen. But buried in the story is this snippet "Victoria's acting chief health officer, Rosemary Lester, said the virus could infect 20 per cent of the population.." Could. Yeah, and i could win Tattslotto this week as well. That doesn't mean I'm going to.
So having established that 1 in 5 of us will catch this "deadly" virus, The Age has taken on the responsibility of ensuring Victorians seek any and all treatment. Haven't they?
"Tamiflu linked to suicides" so shouts The Age again. Oh dear. We have the virus, now we cant receive the treatment because it's unsafe. Damn you to hell swine flu!
Wow, this must have been an amazing investigative piece by The Age and journalist Stephen Cauchi. What a scoop. Well it would have been, except for the fact that this story linking Tamiflu and suicides has been around for 4 years or so. Its been covered by the media, and covered and covered again. But nothing like a crisis and a scare campaign to bring it all up again.
8 people died due to suicide over a 3 year period in Japan. This from a country not known for its low suicide rate. They also take Tamiflu for regular seasonal flu. Do we know that Tamiflu caused them to jump off a building? Of course not.
I have no doubt it was information already considered by the Government when they purchased Tamiflu stockpiles. That's why they also have stockpiles of Relenza, an anti viral alternative to Tamiflu, one which was developed right here in Melbourne. If there happen to be adverse side effects we are ready to go with the another option.
I'm sure I'm not the only one laughing at the absurdity of the Swine Flu Circus. That's the SFC this time, not the GFC. Dont you know that we've moved on?
About Just Grumpy
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