Swine flu deadlier in children
US: H1N1 swine flu can kill c hildren at a much higher rate
than seasonal flu, and the elevated risk for pregnant women extends as
long as two weeks after they give birth, researchers reported on
Wednesday.
The findings show that the H1N1 pandemic, while overall no more
deadly than seasonal flu, is capable of hitting vulnerable women and
children far harder than regular flu usually does.
“Pediatric 2009 H1N1 influenza was associated with pediatric death
rates that were 10 times the rates for seasonal influenza than in
previous years,” Dr. Romina Libster of Hospital Posadas in Buenos Aires
and colleagues wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.
They said hospitalization rates for children with H1N1 were twice
those of the 2008 rate for seasonal influenza.
H1N1 flu has killed more than 10,000 people in the United States
alone, infected nearly 50 million and put 200,000 into the hospital.
Pregnant women and children were known to be at higher risk and had
already been given priority for the vaccine.
The results show that prompt treatment is important, Dr. Fernando
Pollack of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee said in a telephone
interview. Roche AG’s Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline’s Relenza can help
ease symptoms if given quickly.
“We cannot chase this disease from behind. Once it gets going, it is
very difficult to treat.
All our fatal cases had not been treated within 48 hours of the
development of symptoms,” he said.
“Patients with lung problems or neurologic problems are at serious
risk of not only having serious disease, but dying of swine flu,”
Pollack added. “They should not only be targets for vaccination, but for
treatment.”
Of 251 children hospitalized with H1N1 at six pediatric centers in
Buenos Aires through July, 19 percent ended up in the intensive care
unit and most of them required mechanical ventilation. The death rate
was 5 percent. Nearly one third had no pre-existing health problems, and
the risk was highest among children less than 1 year old. Boston,
Thursday, Reuters |