CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- As the height of flu season approaches, a Texas family believes the drug, Tamiflu, could have had serious negative side effects on their six-year old daughter.
Doctors acknowledged the side effects are possible, but extremely unlikely.
“I’m not going to discount the possibility,” Novant Health’s Dr. Charles Bregier said.
Dr. Bregier admitted he’s heard of a few instances like the recent media report in Texas. Parents claim their daughter experienced side effects that caused her to hallucinate, run away from school and nearly jump out of a second floor window.
“There have been reports in the literature of psychosis, agitation, all kinds of those neuro-psychiatric changes,” Dr. Bregier said.
The FDA says kids and teens are at a higher risk for serious side effects – which are rare. Still, Dr. Bregier says it won’t effect how he prescribes Tamiflu.
“I’ve prescribed Tamiflu probably thousands of times in my career, and I very rarely can think of times where patients have called back and said, ‘oh I’ve developed this or that, and I think it’s from the Tamiflu.’”
Dr. Bregier says they’ll need Tamiflu as they combat an already serious flu season that hasn’t even reached its peak.
“It still seems to be getting worse in most states. So I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”