Dangers of Tamiflu   The Food and Drug Administration is looking into reports of deaths and abnormal behavior among children in Japan who took the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu, which is being stockpiled by governments around the world for use in a possible flu pandemic.  The agency said that given the available information, it could not conclude that Tamiflu had caused the deaths and other problems. It plans to continue monitor possible complications from the drug for up to two years.  Roche, the company that sells Tamiflu, said that the reports of these problems were rare given that millions of people had used the drug, and that the problems might have been caused by the flu itself.  The issue of Tamiflu's safety in children will be discussed today by an advisory committee to the F.D.A. at a meeting in Gaithersburg, Md. Such a safety review is required one year after a drug receives a patent extension offered to companies that test the safety and effectiveness of their medicines in children.

Tamiflu was approved in 1999 in the United States and late in 2000 in Japan. In documents prepared for the meeting, F.D.A. reviewers said 12 children, ages 1 to 16, had died after taking the drug, all of them in Japan. In one document, the reviewers commented on the death of six children ages 2 to 4 who had apparently been healthy before getting the flu. "It is concerning that six young patients died suddenly within one to two days after initiation of oseltamivir therapy.  In the first three days of its operation - between 24 and 26 July - no fewer than 150,000 Tamiflu packs were handed out. A growing number of doctors have raised concerns over whether the drug is being handed out too readily, putting many at needless risk of side effects when in the majority of instances, swine flu is a mild illness.  The 293 cases, reported by doctors to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, are only of suspected adverse reactions. However, those that turn out not to have been caused by Tamiflu are likely to be only a fraction of the total. There were 465 separate reactions reported, referring to 293 individuals. Around a third involved gastrointestinal problems, such as vomiting and diarrhoea. But there were also cases of heart and eye problems - together with 46 cases of psychiatric disorders and 48 disorders of the nervous system. There has also been one unexplained death. Last week England's top doctor urged parents to continue giving their children Tamiflu if they come down with swine flu. Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, appealed for calm after the release of a study which showed that 53 per cent of children who take it suffer from nausea, nightmares and other reactions.