2012-13 Pediatric Deaths - U.S. - Total 116

[JimO]

[Edit] - I had to correct an error where I misread the Iowa report. They have had no pediatric deaths. There have also been two in South Carolina, rather than one.

It saddens me deeply to start this thread again, but there has been a jump in pediatric deaths over the past two weeks. The MMWR lags state health departments, so only 8 have been reported through Week 50, but my count is 17 from 10 states, with half the states having only posted through Week 49 or 50. The total for the entire 2011-12 season was 45 from 21 states.

Early flu indicators have not even peaked in most states and some haven't been hit very hard at all, so these numbers are somewhat alarming.

The primary purpose of this thread is to raise awareness early so that public health officials will consider serious actions to limit the spread of flu when school starts in a week or two.

Here is the current tally:

State - 2011-12 - 2012-13

Alabama - 0 - 0
Alaska - 0 - 0
Arizona - 2 - 0
Arkansas - 1 - 0
California - 13 - 0
Colorado - 0 - 2
Connecticut - 0 - 0
Delaware - 0 - 0
Florida - 2 - 1
Georgia - 0 - 0
Hawaii - 3 - 0
Idaho - 0 - 0
Illinois - 1 - 0
Indiana - 0 - 1
Iowa - 1 - 0
Kansas - 0 - 0
Kentucky - 0 - 0
Louisiana - 0 - 0
Maine - 0 - 1
Maryland - 0 - 0
Massachusetts - 0 - 0
Michigan - 0 - 2
Minnesota - 1 - 0
Mississippi - 0 - 0
Missouri - 1 - 0
Montana - 0 - 0
Nebraska - 0 - 0
Nevada - 4 - 0
New Hampshire - 0 - 0
New Jersey - 1 - 2
New Mexico - 1 - 0
New York - 1 - 0
North Carolina - 2 - 0
North Dakota - 0 - 0
Ohio - 0 - 1
Oklahoma - 2 - 0
Oregon - 0 - 0
Pennsylvania - 1 - 0
Rhode Island 0 - 0
South Carolina - 0 - 2
South Dakota - 0 - 0
Tennessee - 0 - 1
Texas - 4 - 3
Utah - 0 - 0
Vermont - 0 - 0
Virginia - 1 - 0
Washington - 1 - 1
West Virginia - 1 - 0
Wisconsin - 1 - 0
Wyoming - 0 - 0

Totals - 45 - 17

[JimO]

Re: 2012-13 Pediatric Deaths - U.S.

I apologize for the errors in the above post and I believe the list is correct as of noon today. Additional pediatric fatalities were reported by Florida (1), Wisconsin (1), and New York (1) in their Week 51 reports. That raises the count to 20; however, the CDC reported 8 additional deaths that are listed in the FluView report as having all occurred in Week 51. That might include the FL, WI, and NY deaths and five more. However, the nine more deaths that I had from state sources and one obituary (Ohio 17-yo female reported by Shiloh) all occurred prior to Week 51, so there are potentially as many as 25 pediatric deaths through Week 51. But, this does not account for deaths that might not have been reported yet to the CDC in states that have not updated their data since Week 49 or Week 50. This includes some of the states hit hardest in recent weeks. Those that have not updated include SC, TX, NH, MS, MI, WV, NB, CA, WA, NM, NH, MT, IN, and IL.

Given the demographics of hospitalizations, with more that 50% in the 5 to 64 age ranges in many cases, there is a real danger that we will see hundreds of deaths reported in January. Furthermore, influenza B has been nearly as dangerous for children this year as H3N2, with there being, I believe, 5 of the 16 pediatric deaths attributed to influenza B, 5 to H3N2, and 6 to unsubtyped influenza A (likely H3N2). Given the proportion of B to A infections, the CFR might be very similar.

I urge the State Departments of Education and Health to seriously consider truly effective school closings as a tool to slow the spread of flu when school resumes.

Here is the revised tally. From this point forward, I will only list 2012-13 fatalities and will not list states that have not reported any fatalities to date.

Colorado - 2
Florida - 2
Indiana - 1
Maine - 1
Michigan - 2
New Jersey - 2
New York - 1
Ohio - 1
South Carolina - 2
Tennessee - 1
Texas - 3
Washington - 1
Wisconsin - 1

Total - 20

[JimO]

Re: 2012-13 Pediatric Deaths - U.S.

This tally is current through this afternoon. South Carolina increased the total fatalities to 15 today, but they decreased the pediatric fatalities from 2 to 1.

Arkansas - 1
Colorado - 2
Florida - 2
Indiana - 2
Maine - 1
Michigan - 3
New Jersey - 2
New York - 1
Ohio - 1
South Carolina - 2
Tennessee - 1
Texas - 3
Washington - 1
Wisconsin - 2

Total - 24

[JimO]

Re: 2012-13 Pediatric Deaths - U.S.

Here is the latest tally:

Arkansas - 1
Colorado - 2
Florida - 2
Indiana - 2
Maine - 1
Michigan - 4
Minnesota - 2
Nebraska - 1
New Jersey - 2
New York - 2
Ohio - 1
Pennsylvania - 1
South Carolina - 2
Tennessee - 1
Texas - 5
Washington - 1
Wisconsin - 2

Total - 32

[JimO]

Re: 2012-13 Pediatric Deaths - U.S.

Numbers through this evening:

Arkansas - 1
Colorado - 2
Florida - 2
Indiana - 2
Kansas - 1
Maine - 1
Massachusetts - 1
Michigan - 4
Minnesota - 2
Nebraska - 2
New Jersey - 2
New York - 3
Ohio - 1
Pennsylvania - 1
South Carolina - 2
Tennessee - 1
Texas - 6
Washington - 1
Wisconsin - 1

Total - 36

[JimO]

Re: 2012-13 Pediatric Deaths - U.S.

Here is the latest tally through this evening. There was some confusion over the 17-yo boy from Texas who was visiting relatives in Wisconsin, but died in Minnesota. Ultimately, the death was reported by Texas. Also, I had a second death from South Carolina that turned out to be from last season.

Arkansas - 1
California - 1
Colorado - 4
Delaware - 1
Florida - 3
Illinois - 1
Indiana - 2
Kansas - 1
Maine - 1
Maryland - 1
Massachusetts - 1
Michigan - 4
Minnesota - 1
Nebraska - 2
New Jersey - 3
New York - 3
Ohio - 3
Pennsylvania - 1
South Carolina - 1
Tennessee - 1
Texas - 6
Washington - 1
Wisconsin - 1

Total - 44

[JimO]

Re: 2012-13 Pediatric Deaths - U.S. - Total 55

The latest results through 1/27/13.

Arizona - 1
Arkansas - 1
California - 2
Colorado - 5
Delaware - 1
Florida - 4
Hawaii - 1
Illinois - 1
Indiana - 2
Kansas - 1
Maine - 1
Maryland - 1
Massachusetts - 1
Michigan - 4
Minnesota - 1
Nebraska - 2
New Jersey - 5
New York - 4
Ohio - 3
Pennsylvania - 2
South Carolina - 1
Tennessee - 1
Texas - 8
Washington - 1
Wisconsin - 1

Total - 55

[JimO]

Re: 2012-13 Pediatric Deaths - U.S. - Total 65

Here are the latests totals for pediatric deaths. Most of these cases have been laboratory confirmed and will ultimately be reported to CDC; however, there are several that were not laboratory confirmed and are counted based on obituaries and/or media reports.

Arizona - 2
Arkansas - 1
California - 2
Colorado - 5
Delaware - 1
Florida - 5
Hawaii - 1
Illinois - 1
Indiana - 2
Kansas - 1
Maine - 1
Maryland - 1
Massachusetts - 1
Michigan - 5
Minnesota - 1
Mississippi - 1
Nebraska - 2
New Hampshire - 1
New Jersey - 5
New York - 6
Ohio - 4
Pennsylvania - 2
South Carolina - 1
Tennessee - 1
Texas - 9
Utah - 1
Washington - 1
Wisconsin - 1

Total - 65

[JimO]

Re: 2012-13 Pediatric Deaths - U.S. - Total 116

Total pediatric deaths by state this season:

Alabama - 1
Arizona - 2
Arkansas - 3
California - 3
Colorado - 6
Delaware - 1
Florida - 7
Hawaii - 1
Idaho - 2
Illinois - 3
Indiana - 6
Iowa - 1
Kansas - 2
Kentucky - 1
Louisiana - 1
Maine - 1
Maryland - 2
Massachusetts - 3
Michigan - 5
Minnesota - 3
Mississippi - 1
Nebraska - 2
Nevada - 1
New Hampshire - 1
New Jersey - 6
New Mexico - 2
New York - 10
Ohio - 7
Oklahoma - 1
Oregon - 1
Pennsylvania - 2
South Carolina - 3
South Dakota - 3
Tennessee - 1
Texas - 15
Utah - 2
Virginia - 1
Washington - 1
Wisconsin - 2

Total - 116