It is a question on parents' minds: how do they protect their youngsters from the swine flu till the vaccine is widely available? Swine flu has likely infected many thousands of children across the nation, but deaths among children aren't common. Health officers are keeping track of children's influenza deaths, but they assert it is impossible to add all influenza cases.
So they do not know what percentage of children's infections are deadly. Many experts say the H1N1 virus doesn't seem to be more deadly than other influenza strains, but children have been catching it easier than seasonal influenza. Last week alone, there were nineteen new reports of children who died, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. And the 76 swine flu deaths since April compare with 68 pediatric deaths from seasonal influenza since Sep 2008. Because youngsters appear so exposed to it, "every medical epidemiologist in the country" is tracking how it is affecting them, announced Dr Susan Gerber, an associate medical officer for the general public health department in Cook County, Ill. Most children will recover, but "it's still awfully concerning and should be studied really closely" Gerber expounded.
Dr Kenneth Alexander, the School of Chicago's pediatric infectious illness chief, declared there are common signs to point out when both categories of influenza turn deadly. Flu viruses can damage cilia, the hair-like fibers lining the breathing tract that move bacteria and mucous "where we are able to cough them out" of the lungs, he said. "That will make people at the mercy of pneumonia and other bacterial infections an eventuality blamed for many flu deaths in otherwise healthy children and adults" he announced.
Authorities urge parents to seek immediate help if emergency warning signs develop. In children, these are: Fast or troubled breathing. Bluish skin color. Lack of thirst. Failure to wake up easily or interact. Irritability so that the child does not want to be held. Improvement of symptoms, then a return to fever and worse cough. Fever with a rash.
A report from the CDC revealed that one in three of pediatric deaths from the new H1N1 virus were in children with no known underlying condition that would put them in danger. During the past couple of weeks, news bulletins have totaled the deaths of children with no known health issues, including three in New Mexico, a second-grader in Dalton, Ga, and a Baltimore eighth-grader. "People are pretty concerned and I suspect they should be," declared Harvin Bullock, coroner in Sumter County, S.C, where 11-year-old Ashlie Pipkin died 3 weeks ago, a couple of days after developing symptoms.
Authorities are walking a fine line between ensuring parents are vigilant without raising unjustified alarm. That implies children should get vaccination shots for both normal influenza and swine influenza when the vaccine is available, and stay at home from college if they're sick. Insignificant cases should be handled at home with rest and masses of liquids, but parents should call their doctor if more significant symptoms develop. "We definitely do not want to suggest to somebody who has a particularly sick kid that that kid should be at home". He revealed it's a troublesome message for health officers to explain, and is "very challenging for parents to get this right". In rare cases, swine flu symptoms turn from bad to much worse so quickly that by the time medical attention is administered, it is too late.