Tamiflu Might Make You Wacko

You're supposed to take Tamiflu if you're feeling under the weather, and some experts think it might fend off bird flu. But reports out of Japan suggest it may cause "abnormal behavior" that could, in some cases, lead to death.

The evidence for this is pretty murky, with some of it relying on apparent suicide cases that might not be suicides after all. Here are some more details:

According to the [Japanese] Health Ministry, 54 peoplehave died so far after taking Tamiflu, and in February, a 14-year-oldgirl and a boy fell to their deaths from their apartment homes inseparate incidents after taking the drug. Neither had left a suicidenote.________

Swissdrug maker Roche Holding AG, which produces Tamiflu, also knowngenerically as oseltamivir, has denied a link between the medicationand the deaths, adding that influenza itself could cause psychiatricproblems...

Tamiflu has been used to treat 50 million people since it was approvedin 1999, and in 2005, there were only 103 reports of neuropsychiatricproblems...

This is going to be a mighty difficult case to figure out from a research perspective, considering that you'd need to compare behavior in people not treated with Tamiflu to those who are treated; it's tough, meanwhile, to figure out if a suicide is actually a suicide or something else.

Tamiflu side effect worries grow after deaths [Reuters via MSNBC]