BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- During the 2003-2004 flu season, more than 150 American children under 18 died from complications of the flu, according to a medical report from the influenza branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"This is the first time that we are looking at lab-confirmed outcomes in children on a national level," said Dr. Niranjan Bhat, a medical epidemiologist from the CDCP.
Bhat and his colleagues asked all state and local health departments to report any fatalities that occurred during the 2003-2004 flu season in children under 18 who had influenza confirmed in laboratory studies.
Forty state health departments reported 153 deaths. The average age of the children who died was 3, and 63 percent were under the age of 5. The highest mortality rate was seen in youngsters under 6 months old.
Just under half died outside of the hospital. Forty-five percent of the children died very quickly -- within three days -- of the onset of the flu, according to the study, which appeared in the Dec. 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Forty-seven percent of the children were previously considered healthy, and had no underlying medical conditions. Bhat said the CDC will be looking into how and why these infections can become so severe in previously healthy children.
The chronic health conditions that were seen most frequently in the children who died were neurological disorders, neuromuscular disorders, heart disease and lung disorders, such as asthma.
"Influenza can be a very serious illness. Influenza can kill, even though rarely. The best prevention we have is vaccination," said Bhat.
Unfortunately, the group at highest risk of influenza-related mortality -- infants under 6 months -- isn't eligible to be vaccinated.
Bhat said researchers are studying whether a mother's immunization during pregnancy might confer some immunity to her infant after birth. While that question remained unanswered, he did say that a vaccinated mother is less likely to transmit the virus to her baby. Enditem
(Agencies)
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