CDC To Monitor Children's Flu Complications: Drug-Resistant Staph A New Wrinkle

SFgate ^ | 12-8-2003 | Daniel Yee

[blam]

The nation's health agency plans to closely watch flu complications among children, who have swamped hospitals in some states and surprised doctors with the severity of their illnesses.

A new concern is the rise of a common drug-resistant staph infection that is complicating efforts to treat children with the flu, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

[blam]

Thanks for the link riri ,deserves its own thread

[Coroner]

Vancomycin is effective against MRSA, unfortunately Vanco resistant strains are starting to pop up.

[torstars]

Here is another article on a toddler's death after getting immunized

"Neither the Council Bluffs Health Department or the Iowa Department of Health have confirmed that 20-month-old Caitlin Mouw died last Tuesday from the flu.

But her parents said doctors told them that all signs point to it. Caitlin had received the flu vaccine at her 18-month checkup."

http://www.theomahachannel.com/iowabureau/2690746/detail.html

[torstars]

I was also struck by reports of sudden deaths in previously health children. These deaths happened within a couple of days of onset of symptoms and did not appear to involve secondary infections.

[blam]

They don't know if the baby died from the flu virus yet. It seems like two moths would have been enough time to acclimate to the shot, huh?

[blam]

Ping.

[Judith Anne]

I wonder if the child had the Fujian strain...immunization doesn't work against it, right?

Anyway, this is shaping up to be a hard season.

[torstars]

Yes, it seems unlikely that the shot had anything to do with the baby's death. There have been a couple of reports of deaths in young, previously healthy children or toddlers. The virus is consistently changing, so I was curious to see if the vaccine was reducing the severity of the disease, especially in younger, immunologically naive patients, but there have been a few reports describing fatal cases in children already immunized.

[Think free or die]

This is pretty scary stuff. Our school-age sons had flu shots the day after Thanksgiving, so hopefully they'll have some protection against these ugly diseases and complications. Flu is hitting their school already. I've heard quite a few reports of flu in our area of SE Pennsylvania now.

[torstars]

I think that 70-80% of cases in the US are Fujian. I suspect that virtually all of the deaths in previously healthy children are Fujian - that is how things were shaping up in Europe. The Fujian stain has changed quite a bit from A/Panama/2007/99

[torstars]

Several reports have indicated the flu is moving east in the US. The initial cases were in Texas, Colorado, and Wyoming, but eastern states are showing more activity. I expect the % of cases that type as Fujian to also increase. The other H3N2 isolates are typing out as Panama-like.

[torstars]

This is pretty scary stuff.

Julie Gerberding and Antony Fauci appearing on network and cable TV on the same day to talk about flu is a clear signal that there is considerable concern.

[torstars]

This is what A/fujian/411/2002 looks like.

[torstars]

Here's A/panama/2007/99

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for your interest and participation on this thread. I haven't heard any statistics on the distribution of the two different strains, do you know a source for that?

[blam]

BTW, welcome to Free Republic.

[Think free or die]

I expect the spread of flu was nicely assisted by all the Thanksgiving holiday travel. Our older son's fifth grade class of 24 was missing 4-5 kids today, of whom at least one has flu. I don't think the rest of them are on cruises. We keep telling our sons to wash their hands and keep their hands off their faces.

[torstars]

The antigen characterization is listed in CDC Weekly reports.

In the latest report:

"Antigenic Characterization: CDC has antigenically characterized 157 influenza A (H3N2) viruses collected by U.S. laboratories since October 1 and found that 45 (29%) were similar antigenically to the vaccine strain A/Panama/2007/99 (H3N2), and 112 (71%) were similar to the drift variant, A/Fujian/411/2002 (H3N2). The A/Fujian strain predominated in Australia and New Zealand during the recent Southern Hemisphere influenza season and is a drift variant related to the vaccine strain, A/Panama/2007/99. Antibodies produced against the vaccine virus cross-react with A/Fujian/411/2002-like viruses, but at a lower level than against A/Panama/2007/99 (H3N2). Vaccine effectiveness depends, in part, on the match between vaccine strains and circulating viruses and cannot be determined by laboratory testing. Although vaccine effectiveness against A/Fujian/411/2002-like viruses may be less than that against A/Panama/2007/99-like viruses, it is expected that the current U.S. vaccine will offer some cross-protective immunity against the A/Fujian/411/2002-like viruses and reduce the severity of disease. One influenza A(H1N1) virus was antigenically characterized and was similar to the vaccine strain A/New Caledonia/20/99. "

[torstars]

I think that on of the reasons that flu seems to peak in January is linked to holiday travel and gatherings.