No More Children's Flu Medicine

A second wave of swine flu is sweeping the country and has left 114 children dead in its wake since April, leading federal officials to release the last batch of children's Tamiflu from its national stockpile. The death toll is at a record high since the CDC began tracking children's deaths five years ago, though officials did note that more than two-thirds of the deaths were compounded by underlying health problems. The government has an order in with Roche, the manufacturer of Tamiflu, though the shipment is not scheduled to arrive for another few months. An Indian company, the only other to make a World Health Organization-approved swine-flu drug, has offered to supply about one million doses of the children's medicine in four to six weeks. In the meantime, the CDC has come up with a homemade remedy for the shortage, instructing pharmacies to crack open adult tablets of the medicine and mix it with a child-friendly syrup.