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The official, Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center on Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said she “strongly recommended” giving the drug only to people already seriously ill, or to their family members who are pregnant, have asthma or have other conditions that could be life-threatening if they caught the flu.

Giving the drug to healthy people wastes the world’s limited supplies of Tamiflu and increases the chances of drug-resistant strains developing, Dr. Schuchat said, and the disease centers are working with camp associations and local health departments to discourage the practice.

Dozens of camps have had swine flu outbreaks this summer. Some closed, others set up infirmaries, and some have had camp doctors write Tamiflu prescriptions or asked parents to send children with the drug.

The practice is controversial because public health authorities consider it selfish and dangerous. Although there is a national stockpile of 50 million courses of Tamiflu, it will not last into the coming flu season if many healthy Americans start taking the drug.

Isolation in the close quarters of camps is almost impossible, Dr. Siegel said, and he gave his own family as an example for a reason to use prophylaxis. His son’s bunkmates had flu, he said; if his son had caught it, he might have brought it home to his 4-year old brother, who has asthma.

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