Flu drugs little use for children 流感藥物對兒童效用不大

◎陳成良

British doctors say Tamiflu should not be given to children suffering from flu because it does little good and increases vomiting and other side effects.

英國醫師表示，不該讓罹患流感的兒童服用克流感，因為它帶來的好處不多，還會增加嘔吐及其他副作用。

They called for a rethink of current widespread use of antivirals among under-12s in the light of an analysis of clinical data from past seasonal flu outbreaks showing scant benefits and potentially harmful side effects.

有鑑於一項針對過去季節性流感疫情爆發的臨床資料分析顯示（流感藥物對兒童）好處不多且可能產生有害副作用，他們籲請重新思考當前普遍讓12歲以下兒童服用抗病毒藥的作法。

Governments around the world have built up large stockpiles of Roche’s Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline’s Relenza to deal with the current H1N1 flu pandemic.

世界各國政府已儲備大量羅氏藥廠的克流感以及葛蘭素史克藥廠的瑞樂沙，以因應當前H1N1流感大流行。

In Britain, hundreds of thousands of doses of Tamiflu have been handed out to people with the disease, of whom around half are children.

在英國，數十萬劑克流感已發放給新流感患者，其中約半數是兒童。

But Dr. Matthew Thompson from the University of Oxford said that while antivirals shortened the duration of flu in children by around a day, they didn’t reduce asthma flare-ups or the likelihood of children needing antibiotics.

不過牛津大學的湯普森博士表示，雖然抗病毒藥可縮短兒童的病程約一天，但無法減少氣喘突然發作，也無法降低兒童需服用抗生素的可能性。

新聞辭典

in the light of ：片語，考慮到；根據；鑑於；從……的觀點。例句：He rewrote the book in the light of further research. （他根據進一步的研究重寫了那部書。）

scant：形容詞，微小的；不足的；欠缺的。例句：I paid scant attention to what she was saying. （我沒太注意她在說什麼。）

flare-up：名詞，（疾病等的）突然發作；（怒氣、激烈情緒等）爆發。例句：Talking too much in class will cause the teacher to flare up.

（在課堂上說太多話會讓老師勃然大怒。）