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  • Alabama: Experts check into rash of child flu deaths

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    Experts check into rash of U.S. child flu deaths
    01 Feb 2007 22:59:16 GMT
    <!-- 01 Feb 2007 22:59:16 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove--> Source: Reuters

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    By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) -

    Nine children have died of flu this season in Alabama, an unusually high number that has some experts worried, a pediatrician said on Thursday.

    Dr. Richard Whitley of the University of Alabama at Birmingham said he had sent samples from the children to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for analysis. "Nine children and we are a state of 4 million people," he said. They were all affected with the regular seasonal flu, Whitley said in an interview, but were unusually ill with it.

    "We have tried extravagant things (to save them)." "These kids are presenting with an ARDS-like syndrome," he said. Acute respiratory distress syndrome usually only occurs with severe infections, and is not normally a symptom of influenza. Normal seasonal influenza does kill children every year, even previously healthy children. Public health officials are watching flu more closely than before because of fears the H5N1 bird flu virus, a strain found primarily in birds but that has killed 164 people since 2003, might mutate into a fast-spreading and lethal pandemic form.

    "Unfortunately, it is not unusual for there to be pediatric deaths in any flu season," CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding told reporters. It takes years sometimes to get good estimates, but 153 children died in the 2003-2004 flu season, according to CDC figures. This year so far the CDC had reported eight deaths among children, but its statistics are usually several weeks old. Whitley said his hospital started filling up with cases, mostly children, in December.

    The U.S. flu season normally runs from October to March. "Our hospital has been at 115 percent occupancy," Whitley told reporters. "We are not seeing influenza in our adult populations." Most of the 36,000 Americans who die of flu and flu-related pneumonia in an average year are elderly.

    Whitley said the annual flu wave was now starting to peter out in Alabama, but increased activity had been reported east, in South Carolina, and north in Illinois. The CDC says flu activity in the United States has not reached epidemic levels. "We do know that the majority of virus circulating in this flu season is a strain that is an excellent match to the vaccine," Gerberding said. Every year, the flu vaccine is reformulated with three strains of flu that match the most common types in circulation. The CDC now recommends that most people in the United States get flu vaccines every year, including young children, people over the age of 50, health care workers and people with chronic conditions such as diabetes.

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    "In the beginning of change, the patriot is a scarce man (or woman https://flutrackers.com/forum/core/i...ilies/wink.png), and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for it then costs nothing to be a patriot."- Mark TwainReason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it. -Thomas Paine

  • #2
    Re: Alabama: Experts check into rash of child flu deaths

    A review of events posted about Alabama this season.

    Dec 22
    6 children in Alabama on Life support

    And

    In this thread there is good discussion on the discrepant data due to differences in methodology.

    9/29/06
    Seasonal Influenza Early (in Alabama)

    In southeast Alabama, 13 cultures from Dale County have tested positive for influenza A (H1N1) and three from Houston County have tested positive for influenza B Shanghai.

    Starting in late August, 2006, Dale County reported patients with classical influenza symptoms, starting first among middle school children but later spreading to other age groups. Over 30 influenza quick tests were positive. Eventually 13 cultures were positive for influenza type A (H1N1).

    Following publicity of the above outbreak, patients with influenza symptoms were reported from Houston County (in the southeastern corner of Alabama). As of September 25, three patients have cultures positive for influenza type B Shanghai.

    At the same time as the first outbreak a culture from Mobile County (southwest Alabama) was positive for influenza type B Hong Kong.
    Same thread post #4
    The Ozark strain of the flu first appeared in three children at an Ozark pediatrician's office in August. Other cases developed initially in family members of the children. Grady said his office has no reports of more school absences or more hospitalizations related to the flu in the area.
    Ozark City Schools Superintendent Dan Payant said Tuesday that the school system is not recording an unusual number of absences. At most, Payant estimates a 5 percent increase in absences at the peak of the outbreak and he believes absences are back at or below normal levels this week.
    "What sparked the interest was a cautionary note we sent home to parents so they would know flu arrived early this year," Payant said. "It is a note we send home every year, just earlier this time."
    But Grady said the state will look for links that might explain the outbreak. Ozark is home to Fort Rucker, a U.S. Army base with frequent flights to and from other parts of the world. Grady wants doctors in other parts of the state to culture their patients suspected of having the flu and send the cultures to public health in Montgomery for analysis.
    July 12 2006

    BIRDS TEST NEGATIVE FOR WEST NILE, AVIAN FLU
    July 12, 2006 (Montgomery Advertiser)

    Seven birds found dead in Montgomery over the weekend were not infected by avian influenza or West Nile virus, lab results confirmed Wednesday.

    State health officials suspected neither virus was to blame for the deaths of five doves, a cardinal and a blue jay but did tests as a precaution.

    ?This is not a human health concern,? said Mel Stephens, state public health veterinarian.

    Stephens said the birds might have died from species specific trichomoniasis, a parasitic disease found in birds. Doves are particularly sensitive to the disease, which killed 50 of the birds in 2003 in Marengo County.
    Thought has a dual purpose in ethics: to affirm life, and to lead from ethical impulses to a rational course of action - Teaching Reverence for Life -Albert Schweitzer. JT

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Alabama: Experts check into rash of child flu deaths

      Originally posted by Thornton View Post
      A review of events posted about Alabama this season.

      Dec 22
      6 children in Alabama on Life support

      And

      In this thread there is good discussion on the discrepant data due to differences in methodology.

      9/29/06
      Seasonal Influenza Early (in Alabama)


      Same thread post #4

      July 12 2006
      http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/arc...hp/t-8111.html
      Thanks for these links. These pedi flu deaths really have me puzzled. The first case, age 9, is still on a vent and dialysis, and was admitted just after Thanksgiving. She had no prior existing conditions, no matter what that state epidemiologist has said. Her early symptoms seemed consistent with cytokine storm. Because of HIPPA, we can not prove this, but it is a sobering thought.

      In the CDC audiocast from Atlanta yesterday, the reporter who asked about these cases, was not given a transparent answer. I hope that others will continue to ask for and get more information about the virus that did this to this child.

      About the bird deaths, would they not be able to prove if it was trichomoniasis?

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Alabama: Experts check into rash of child flu deaths


        It takes years sometimes to get good estimates, but 153 children died in the 2003-2004 flu season, according to CDC figures. This year so far the CDC had reported eight deaths among children, but its statistics are usually several weeks old. Whitley said his hospital started filling up with cases, mostly children, in December.
        Is this correct? Does it really take years to get good estimtes of fatalities?

        What is HIPPA?

        J.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Alabama: Experts check into rash of child flu deaths

          Originally posted by cartski View Post
          Is this correct? Does it really take years to get good estimtes of fatalities?

          What is HIPPA?

          J.

          Yes!

          I think Blue meant Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) - Medical Privacy - National Standards to Protect the Privacy of Personal Health Information
          "In the beginning of change, the patriot is a scarce man (or woman https://flutrackers.com/forum/core/i...ilies/wink.png), and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for it then costs nothing to be a patriot."- Mark TwainReason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it. -Thomas Paine

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Alabama: Experts check into rash of child flu deaths

            Originally posted by Niko View Post
            Yes!

            I think Blue meant Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) - Medical Privacy - National Standards to Protect the Privacy of Personal Health Information
            That was what I meant. I always get the letters mixed up, but I do know the actual wording because I was forced to learn it at an inservice.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Alabama: Experts check into rash of child flu deaths

              In Minnesota, severe flu also. A child died around Jan. 31.



              MN Health Department: Flu complications kill 8-year-old

              ST. PAUL - State health officials reported the first child death from influenza in two flu seasons on Wednesday, when an 8-year-old died in Ramsey County.

              The child had no underlying medical conditions and hadn't been vaccinated against the flu, said Kris Ehresmann, head of immunizations at the Minnesota Health Department. Hospital testing identified the flu strain as influenza type A, she said.

              His parents identified him as 8-year-old Lucio Satar, a second-grader at St. Paul's Four Seasons Elementary School. They told KARE-TV he died of pneumonia, a complication he developed after coming down with the flu.

              Lucio started feeling sick Wednesday last week. He went to the hospital Friday. On Wednesday this week, his classmates were given a letter to take home, notifying parents of his death and how to protect their families against influenza.

              His death comes as flu bugs are spreading among school-age children, with 55 Minnesota schools reporting likely outbreaks in the last week, Ehresmann said. The flu is rarely fatal for children. One Minnesota child died during the 2004-05 flu season, and there were no pediatric flu deaths in the 2005-06 and 2003-04 flu seasons, she said.

              “Deaths from influenza are uncommon among children - both kids with high-risk conditions and kids without high-risk conditions - but they do happen,” Ehresmann said.

              Parents should contact a health care provider if their child develops symptoms different from or more severe than the common cold. Ehresmann said it's not too late to get immunized against the flu, and plenty of vaccine is still available.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Alabama: Experts check into rash of child flu deaths



                Reuters has corrected their report on Alabama to say that ONE child has died from seasonal flu.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Alabama: Experts check into rash of child flu deaths

                  Originally posted by wdcare View Post
                  http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...2_healthNews-7

                  Reuters has corrected their report on Alabama to say that ONE child has died from seasonal flu.
                  wdcare, Thank you for the update/correction. Here a snip from the article:

                  (Corrects headline, initial paragraphs with revised information from Dr. Whitley that one child died, while nine more had life-threatening illnesses) By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor


                  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An unusually high number of children have suffered severe illnesses from influenza in Alabama this year, which has some experts worried, a pediatrician said on Thursday.


                  Dr. Richard Whitley of the University of Alabama at Birmingham said one child had died and nine had been treated in intensive care. He said he had sent samples from the children to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for analysis.


                  He said half the children were hospitalized for at least two weeks, and some as long as four weeks. One remains in the hospital.
                  "In the beginning of change, the patriot is a scarce man (or woman https://flutrackers.com/forum/core/i...ilies/wink.png), and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for it then costs nothing to be a patriot."- Mark TwainReason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it. -Thomas Paine

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Alabama: Experts check into rash of child flu deaths

                    Birmingham News:

                    Threat of flu starts to wane in state
                    Influenza hit Alabama early and hard this year
                    Saturday, February 03, 2007
                    MARY ORNDORFF News Washington correspondent
                    ARLINGTON, Va. - The worst of Alabama's early and occasionally life-threatening flu season is over, a professor of pediatrics at UAB said Friday.

                    "We're seeing the tail end of it now," said Dr. Richard Whitley of the Department of Medicine. "If you look at the states now with a lot of influenza activity - South Carolina, Illinois, Iowa and Texas - it is going west and north, and I think you'll see it in the Northeast and Midwest before long."

                    Alabama's flu season got off to a quick and severe start this season, and at least 10 Alabama children have needed extraordinary measures in intensive care this winter. At Children's Hospital in Birmingham, many of the influenza patients needed special ventilation techniques and heart and lung machines because their lungs were not working.

                    "These children were incredibly sick," Whitley said. "But with the technology they have, if you didn't have it, those children wouldn't have lived. They would have been a statistic even probably five years ago."

                    Most of those admitted in November and December have gone home; newer patients from January remain hospitalized, he said.

                    Whitley was co-chair this week at a national conference on pandemic and seasonal flu. The conference was held in Arlington, Va.

                    Of the sick Alabama children, half were younger than 5 and none had received a flu vaccine this year. There were cases of both the A and B strains of the virus.

                    Tests done on the Alabama children will be analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to see whether there was a shift in the genetic nature of the virus. The results will help determine if next year's flu vaccine should be modified, Whitley said.

                    The disease did not strike adults as hard this year because they have more chance to build immunity and they tend to get immunized more than children do.

                    "I think you'll see a paradigm shift over the next year when we can immunize children up to 5 years of age so we can prevent disease in the very young," Whitley said.

                    In 2004, the CDC began recommending babies 6 months to 23 months receive the flu vaccine. This fall, that recommendation was expanded to 5 years.

                    In November and December, 162 children with the flu were inpatients at Children's Hospital in Birmingham.

                    Since Oct. 1, CDC has received seven reports of influenza-associated pediatric deaths nationally, according to the CDC Web site.

                    News staff writer Anna Velasco contributed to this report. morndorff@bhamnews.com

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