6 Alabama kids were on life support with flu

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These were otherwise healthy children who came down with a severe strain of seasonal flu. The original link to the local news is included but takes forever to load so that I decided to use a link from someone following this story at Flutrackers and will also include his follow up with the covering reporter. These kids are not the usual victims of seasonal flu which is one of the reasons why this is of concern:

FluTrackers - View Single Post - 6 Alabama children with flu on life support

FluTrackers - View Single Post - 6 Alabama children with flu on life support

Specializes in Too many to list.

There is a major pandemic flu conference given by CIDRAP in Orlando, Florida in Feb 2007 at which many famous names are speaking or attending. The reason I mention this in this thread is because I noticed that one of these speakers is likely to know something about these cases in Alabama. I would be willing to bet, that these cases WILL be discussed. It is too good an opportunity to miss. This man should be prepared, because I am not the only one who is looking for answers to these very puzzling cases.

https://programs.regweb.com/metro/cidrap07/1/index.cfm?page=agenda

Look who he is:

Richard Whitley, MD

Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology and Medicine

Director, Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infections

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Do you think he knows anything? I bet he does!

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Specializes in Pediatric Rehabilitation.

Indigo,

I work at the hospital in B'ham and to my knowledge, there are no hidden answers. Granted, I do not work in PI, but my friends do. These are healthy children who are getting sick QUICK. We've been swamped with RSV, I can't help but wonder if the two are exacerbating one another. I do suspect they figured out something b/c the later dx'd cases recovered quicker than the initial ones. The first child to end up on ECMO has a relative that works with me, so her case is well known. I'm nervous about HIPPA, so I will not go into detail.

Dr. Whitley is excellent and I agree, he probably has answers.

The week before Christmas, I took my son to the pediatrician for mycoplasma. The doc said they'd dx'd 6 flu that morning alone. My son is autistic and although both children are utd on immunizations, I'm scared to death to get their flu shot b/c it contains thermerasol. I'm also scared not to get them immunized since both me and hubby work in the hospital. I'm going on prayer at the time..lol.

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Specializes in Too many to list.
Indigo,

I work at the hospital in B'ham and to my knowledge, there are no hidden answers. Granted, I do not work in PI, but my friends do. These are healthy children who are getting sick QUICK. We've been swamped with RSV, I can't help but wonder if the two are exacerbating one another. I do suspect they figured out something b/c the later dx'd cases recovered quicker than the initial ones. The first child to end up on ECMO has a relative that works with me, so her case is well known. I'm nervous about HIPPA, so I will not go into detail.

Dr. Whitley is excellent and I agree, he probably has answers.

The week before Christmas, I took my son to the pediatrician for mycoplasma. The doc said they'd dx'd 6 flu that morning alone. My son is autistic and although both children are utd on immunizations, I'm scared to death to get their flu shot b/c it contains thermerasol. I'm also scared not to get them immunized since both me and hubby work in the hospital. I'm going on prayer at the time..lol.

I can certainly understand if there is a co-infection with another virus or a prior existing condition. But, we don't know that. We only know that the docs were saying that these kids were otherwise healthy, and they seemed puzzled and concerned about this. Something is not adding up.

FluMist does not contain the ingredient that you are concerned about. But, there may be other risks. Ask your doc.

I would love to talk to Dr. Whitley. I am writing up a list of questions during my daily commute to work. Poor guy, I hope that he is ready...

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Sometimes I am so dense. I must be slipping. It just occurred to me while vaccuuming, I do some of my best thinking then (too bad I don't do it more often), there are all these well known speakers at the CIDRAP conference.

Then there is this doc from Birmingham, Alabama...

He might be more well known after this conference because I think that he is going there to speak about these cases. Boy, am I slow.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Well, I finally had a chance to delve deeper into our very sick flu patient. She and all of our other confirmed flu cases have been flu A so far this winter. By all indication she has no underlying health issues and is on her way to a full recovery. Meanwhile we have had a bunch more RSVs, at last count we had 379 confirmed cases in our region, with 171 of those admitted to hospital and it's only January...

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Thanks, janfrn,

That confirms what I suspected all along. Now we need to know the subtype.

I don't expect that info to be available unless some ID doc has that written in his notes. Most probably won't know it. However, I expect that the Birmingham cases have been subtyped, and sequenced. I hope that we will know more after the CIDRAP Conference. I will hate to be disappointed about this because it is important information about a public health concern. Our tax dollars are paying for this type of information to be researched, and available by CDC etc.

Also thanks for following up about the lack of a prior existing condition. That also is important information.

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We have been expecting WHO to make an announcement about this, and they have. More sobering information about Tamiflu resistance is coming out based on viral samples from two of the three recent fatalities in Egypt. What this article does not say, but is a fact, is that the sequences were taken from the cases in Gharbiya where the case fatality ratio is 100%, and here is part of the reason why. It does not say that the viral samples were taken prior to treatment with Tamiflu, but there is a strong indication that this is so. Tamiflu resistance also occurred in Vietnam two years ago.

Our pandemic flu plans involve the stockpiling of Tamiflu which as noted in the recent Alberta case, may not be available anyway. Countries are also beginning to stockpile Relenza which is inhaled. The question is, will that drug, which targets the respiratory tract, be enough to control a virus that attacks multiple organ systems?

http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2007/01/egyptian_h5n1_r.html

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I have heard from a reliable source that the pediatric ICU cases in Birmingham are all Influenza A. No subtype available yet.

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No prior existing conditions, 8 year old child dies from influenza in Minnesota:

(hat tip flutrackers/wdcare)

http://www.austindailyherald.com/articles/2007/02/01/news/news6.txt

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Specializes in Too many to list.

Pediatric flu related deaths in Minnesota are type A:

http://www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/flu020807.html

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Specializes in Too many to list.

Seattle cases, one death, several hospitalized:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/302875_blanchet08.html

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http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=65142&postcount=1

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=65143&postcount=2

This is tragic. This 11 year old in Nebraska had no prior existing conditions. She also had unusual symptoms. I am not sure that I would have recognized that this was a case of influenza. I would have been looking for respiratory symptoms, for the most part, but flu can manifest via the GI tract, neurologically, and in this case via the musculoskeletal system.

They are saying that this virus is an influenza A but, no information has been made available on the subtype, and no sequences released. Sequence information can predict virulence, ease of transmission, antiviral resistance, and other important data.

It is important to track these cases though it may be uncomfortable to look at this information.

Update on flu types says some are type B also:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=65153&postcount=5

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