BRUSSELS, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- If bird flu becomes a pandemic, transmitted from person to person, the European Union has approved a cough syrup containing Tamiflu for children.
The European Medicines Evaluation Agency decided that in the case of a pandemic, healthy children ages 1 to 12 would be able to get a preventative dose of the Tamiflu cough syrup, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Previously, healthy children were permitted to receive the cough syrup containing Tamiflu only if they developed flu symptoms.
The drug is currently available only via a prescription to people over age 65 and to children in certain risk groups over the age of 13, if flu is spreading throughout the community.
Studies show Tamiflu cuts the risk of children getting the flu by 55 percent and reduces the severity and duration of symptoms in children by 36 percent.
