Houston pediatrician thinks children are getting much sicker than they were a month or two ago

[thebes]

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/health/swine_flu/090706_swine_flu_cases

HOUSTON - Even though the panic seems to have faded, the number of swine flu cases has just jumped dramatically.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the most significant increase in reported U.S. activity came at the end of June, months after the initial scare. U.S. deaths jumped 34 percent to 170 in just the past week.

"We don't have any evidence that it's mutated yet, but I'm concerned the mutation may be taking place. The children seem to me to be getting much more sicker than they used to be one or two months ago," said Dr. Norris Payne, a Houston pediatrician.

He's seeing three or four new cases of swine flu each day.

Dr. Payne is the pediatrician for FOX 26 anchor Melissa Wilson's two year old son. Melissa's son has been diagnosed with swine flu.

Over the weekend, she says, "He was belligerent. He would not stop crying." His fever had soared to 105 degrees.

"Flu season is over, but this is the first time in 30 years I've seen flu in the summer," said Dr. Payne.

For now, the antiviral tamiflu still seems to be working.

Melissa says, "If you have a child with a fever in the middle of summer, that's odd. I would get help immediately."

Dr. Payne believes the cases he's seeing could be just the tip of the iceberg. The CDC estimates more than a million Americans have been infected with the virus, though many probably had a mild illness.

A vaccine is still being developed but could become available sometime in the fall.

 

[wotan]

Re: Houston pediatrician thinks children are getting much sicker than they were a month or two ago

http://www.paynepediatrics.yourmd.com/ypol/user/userMain.asp?siteid=1791633&content=userCVPage&bcx=My%20Doctor^TAB~Web%20Site^MNU~Norris%20Payne,%20M.D.^PST^1791633~Curriculum%20Vitae^CAT^6&pageid=311904&rndm=0.05953376352395434

Curriculum Vitae


Date Of Birth
2-5-52
Place Of Birth
Clinton, Oklahoma

Work Address
6400 Fannin Street
Suite 2020
Houston, TX 77030


Education
Undergraduate degree from SW Oklahoma State University, 1974. MD degree from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX, 1978

Post Doctoral Training
Internship and first year of residency in pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia, 1978-1980. Completed second year of pediatric residency from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, at Texas Children's Hospital in 1981.

Research Fellowships
None

Licensure and Board Certification
State of Texas by FLEX in 1978;
American Board of Pediatrics in January, 1984.

Academic & Administrative Appointments
Clinical Pediatric Instructor,
Baylor College of Medicine, 1981 to present.

Hospital Appointments
Texas Children's Hospital
The Woman's Hospital of Texas
St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
Methodist Hospital
Hermann Children's Hospital

Memberships, Offices and Committee Appointments
Harris County Medical Society
Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Houston Pediatric Society
Texas Medical Society

Other Professional Positions & Major Appointments
Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics

Awards & Honors
Best Doctors in America, 2003-2005

Editorial Boards
None.

Research Interests
Special interests in gastroenterology, infectious diseases and behavioral medicine/psychiatry and psychology.

Bibliography
Married: Margaret Payne,M.D.
July 2, 1977
Children: Jeffrey, D.O.B. 6/28/85
Jonathan, D.O.B. 7/9/87

The Dr.'s CV taken from his webpage. He seems to have some good credentials, including a teaching position at Baylor College of Medicine. BCM provides the clinical staff for Texas Children's Hospital, which is itself one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country.

TCH is also my home away from home (when not at work).

 

[gsgs]

Re: Houston pediatrician thinks children are getting much sicker than they were a month or two ago

several strains could be co-circulating and when conditions
change (immunity,weather,nutrition,..?) then one or the other
of them becomes more widespread.
Increased virulence would be just coincidental then

the same may have happened in 1918 ??!?!??!?

 

[tropical]

Re: Houston pediatrician thinks children are getting much sicker than they were a month or two ago

#1:
""We don't have any evidence that it's mutated yet, but I'm concerned the mutation may be taking place.""


Of course, when the vast majority of infected weren't lab tested/sequenced.

So, as for the appearance of Tamiflu resistant virus, we can suppose (without prove) that many other variations exists at the worldwide fields.

 

[wotan]

Re: Houston pediatrician thinks children are getting much sicker than they were a month or two ago

This is the kind of weather we have had in Houston during the time period discussed in this article:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113566

...June 2009 - a month of heat and a month of records...

June 2009 was one for the record books. There were so many new
records established...it is difficult to know where to begin.
Houston recorded its warmest daily temperature for the month of
June. The thermometer reached 104 degrees twice...on the 24th and
the 26th. June 2009 was also the 2nd warmest June ever recorded for
the city of Houston. The average temperature for June 2009 was 85.6.
The warmest monthly temperature for June occurred in 1906 and was a
sizzling 85.9 degrees. The temperature reached or exceeded 100
degrees for seven consecutive days beginning on the 23rd and ending
on the 29th. This ties the longest consecutive string of 100 degree
days in city history. This last happened between June 16 and June 22
1902. The average high temperature for June was 96.7 degrees which
is the warmest average high temperature ever recorded. The previous
warmest average high temperature was 96.3 degrees established in
1980.

Although June is a warm month here this was unusually hot. However, it was not as humid as normal (personal observation). Here it is usually possible to step out of the house on summer mornings and immediately break out into a sweat because of the very high humidity. I experienced little of that this past June. I also noted instances where various local personal weather stations onhttp://www.weatherunderground.com showed a heat index lower than air temperature, which also supports unusually dry air. We can have drought conditions where it is still humid, so the lack of rain is itself not indicative of the truly dry conditions we had last month.