Study: H1N1 Can Be Deadly Even for Healthy Kids

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Flu prevention is important for everyone, but here's another reason to make sure to get vaccinated: in a study of childhood flu deaths from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, researchers found that otherwise healthy kids can succumb to the virus, particularly if they've already got an increasingly common bacterial infection.

The infection, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), sent previously healthy kids to the hospital and increased their risk of death from flu to eight times that of MRSA-free children, according to research published Monday in Pediatrics. MRSA, which is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, can cause skin infections, invade surgical wounds and wreak havoc internally.

"There's more risk for MRSA to become invasive in the presence of flu or other viruses," said lead researcher Dr. Adrienne Randolph of the Division of Critical Care Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston in a statement. "These deaths in co-infected children are a warning sign."

MORE: CDC: 115 Kids Died of Flu Last Season, Most Weren't Vaccinated

The flu virus suppresses even robust immune systems, making the body more vulnerable to infection. And in children, who typically withstand exposure to massive quantities of bacteria, a dip in immunity may be the difference between a manageable bacterial colony and an invasive bacterial disease.

Randolph and her team examined the medical records of 838 children whose average age was 6; they were all admitted to intensive-care units with H1N1 flu virus during the 2009-2010 flu pandemic. Of the 75 children who died, most had at least one preexisting condition such as asthma or weakened immune systems that further compromised their ability to fight the flu. But researchers were particularly curious what contributed to the critical illnesses faced by the 251 children who were considered otherwise healthy.

They found that MRSA and its more common cousin, S. aureus, was to blame: it upped the risk of death for previously healthy kids who contracted H1N1, which is alarming because MRSA infections — though rare — are on the rise. A recent study found that more than 2% of all 2008 pediatric hospital admissions were due to MRSA — up from only .2% in 1999.

MORE: 1 in 10 Parents Skip or Delay Vaccines

"There's a nice message here about vaccines: that even otherwise healthy children are still at risk, and they are at risk of death,” Dr. Lisa Saiman, a professor of clinical pediatrics at Columbia University, told The New York Times. “These findings provide further support for the recent recommendations by the C.D.C. to immunize all eligible people."

Everyone older than 6 months should get vaccinated, recommends the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (this year's seasonal vaccine also guards against 2009 H1N1, which hasn't mutated significantly since then). Roll up your sleeve — no excuses.

Meredith Melnick is a reporter at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @MeredithCM. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

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Still Waiting For That Healthy Oats And Barley Revival

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Enlarge Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images

Barley has fallen out of favor as horse feed, but beer brewers still need it.

Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images

Barley has fallen out of favor as horse feed, but beer brewers still need it.

A press release that landed on my desk recently got me thinking about what American agriculture used to look like. There was a time, seventy or so years ago, when oats and barley covered large swaths of Midwestern farmland — 50 million acres in all. Those grains, high in oil and fiber, were grown to feed the millions of horses that powered American farms.

Then when the tractor arrived, workhorses disappeared, and oats and barley almost went out the same exit. The number of acres devoted to these humble "small grains" is down at least 90 percent from its peak in the 1940s. Oats have been hardest hit, despite aggressive marketing campaigns in recent years by oatmeal makers.

Barley still hangs on, thanks to breweries. "Barley can always go into beer. And people don't want to give up their beer," says Jennifer Mitchell Fetch, a researcher with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

 

But back to that press release: It announces that some Italian researchers have perfected pasta that's made from, yes, barley. If the pasta arrives in stores, it will carry a label saying that it "may reduce the risk of heart disease."

Apparently, America's farm horses were enjoying a very healthy diet way back then. Oats and barley are excellent sources of various substances, including soluble fiber, that scientists have linked to lowered cholesterol and lower risk of heart disease.

In fact, the FDA started allowing food manufacturers to advertise such claims for oat- and barley-containing foods several years ago. And some farmers, especially in Canada, where they grow more oats and barley than in the U.S., thought that the old-time crops might be coming back, thanks to the legal green light. Food researchers experimented with barley-containing tortillas, crepes, pancakes, and noodles.

But the demand they were expecting hasn't happened. The latest figures, in Canada and well as the U.S., show that farmers will harvest a record-low amount of these healthy crops this year.

"I've been working on barley for ten or twelve years, and I don't know why it's not in the stores," laments Nancy Ames, from the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, at the University of Manitoba.

Apparently, we still like our meat and potatoes better.

Health Management

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Still Waiting For That Healthy Oats And Barley Revival

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Enlarge Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images

Barley has fallen out of favor as horse feed, but beer brewers still need it.

Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images

Barley has fallen out of favor as horse feed, but beer brewers still need it.

A press release that landed on my desk recently got me thinking about what American agriculture used to look like. There was a time, seventy or so years ago, when oats and barley covered large swaths of Midwestern farmland — 50 million acres in all. Those grains, high in oil and fiber, were grown to feed the millions of horses that powered American farms.

Then when the tractor arrived, workhorses disappeared, and oats and barley almost went out the same exit. The number of acres devoted to these humble "small grains" is down at least 90 percent from its peak in the 1940s. Oats have been hardest hit, despite aggressive marketing campaigns in recent years by oatmeal makers.

Barley still hangs on, thanks to breweries. "Barley can always go into beer. And people don't want to give up their beer," says Jennifer Mitchell Fetch, a researcher with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

 

But back to that press release: It announces that some Italian researchers have perfected pasta that's made from, yes, barley. If the pasta arrives in stores, it will carry a label saying that it "may reduce the risk of heart disease."

Apparently, America's farm horses were enjoying a very healthy diet way back then. Oats and barley are excellent sources of various substances, including soluble fiber, that scientists have linked to lowered cholesterol and lower risk of heart disease.

In fact, the FDA started allowing food manufacturers to advertise such claims for oat- and barley-containing foods several years ago. And some farmers, especially in Canada, where they grow more oats and barley than in the U.S., thought that the old-time crops might be coming back, thanks to the legal green light. Food researchers experimented with barley-containing tortillas, crepes, pancakes, and noodles.

But the demand they were expecting hasn't happened. The latest figures, in Canada and well as the U.S., show that farmers will harvest a record-low amount of these healthy crops this year.

"I've been working on barley for ten or twelve years, and I don't know why it's not in the stores," laments Nancy Ames, from the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, at the University of Manitoba.

Apparently, we still like our meat and potatoes better.

Health Management

Education Information

Read More