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

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Children rarely die of the flu, but the illness can be more severe than parents think — which is why, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday, vaccination is crucial.

From Sept. 2010 to August 2011, 115 children under 18 died from flu-related complications, according to the latest CDC report. Nearly half of the deaths were in children who were previously healthy, with no underlying medical conditions that would put them at greater risk for severe disease. And nearly half of the kids were younger than 5 (most were younger than 2). "[Y]oung age in itself is a risk factor" for severe flu, the CDC said in a press release.

The official number of deaths may be small, but it's likely an underestimate, the CDC said, because the agency's surveillance method includes only those patients who are tested for influenza and then reported to the CDC. Left out are the majority of children and teens who die from flu, but are never tested.

There's an easy way to reduce pediatric deaths from flu: vaccination. The CDC's report shows that based on available vaccination data 77% of the 74 kids who died from flu and were eligible for the flu shot were never fully vaccinated.

Further, half of the kids who died never got antiviral therapy like Tamiflu (olsetamivir) at the hospital. It may be that doctors are waiting for results of flu tests before prescribing drugs, but the CDC recommends antiviral treatment as soon as possible after onset of severe symptoms or hospitalization, especially if kids are at high risk of flu complications and even with a negative flu test.

"Vaccinate first, then use influenza antiviral drugs as a second line of defense against the flu," said Dr. Lyn Finelli, chief of the CDC's Surveillance and Outbreak Response Team. "Right now we aren't fully using the medical tools at our disposal to prevent flu illnesses and deaths in children."

The CDC recommends flu vaccines for all kids older than 6 months. Even kids who got a flu shot last year — by the government's count, that's only half of eligible children — need a new one this season.

For more info, ask your pediatrician or consult this comprehensive FAQ on flu vaccines for kids from the CDC. Also download this useful parents' guide [PDF] on what to do if your child becomes sick, what underlying conditions put your child at higher risk of flu complications, and what symptoms should tip you off to severe disease.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

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

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Children rarely die of the flu, but the illness can be more severe than parents think — which is why, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday, vaccination is crucial.

From Sept. 2010 to August 2011, 115 children under 18 died from flu-related complications, according to the latest CDC report. Nearly half of the deaths were in children who were previously healthy, with no underlying medical conditions that would put them at greater risk for severe disease. And nearly half of the kids were younger than 5 (most were younger than 2). "[Y]oung age in itself is a risk factor" for severe flu, the CDC said in a press release.

The official number of deaths may be small, but it's likely an underestimate, the CDC said, because the agency's surveillance method includes only those patients who are tested for influenza and then reported to the CDC. Left out are the majority of children and teens who die from flu, but are never tested.

There's an easy way to reduce pediatric deaths from flu: vaccination. The CDC's report shows that based on available vaccination data 77% of the 74 kids who died from flu and were eligible for the flu shot were never fully vaccinated.

Further, half of the kids who died never got antiviral therapy like Tamiflu (olsetamivir) at the hospital. It may be that doctors are waiting for results of flu tests before prescribing drugs, but the CDC recommends antiviral treatment as soon as possible after onset of severe symptoms or hospitalization, especially if kids are at high risk of flu complications and even with a negative flu test.

"Vaccinate first, then use influenza antiviral drugs as a second line of defense against the flu," said Dr. Lyn Finelli, chief of the CDC's Surveillance and Outbreak Response Team. "Right now we aren't fully using the medical tools at our disposal to prevent flu illnesses and deaths in children."

The CDC recommends flu vaccines for all kids older than 6 months. Even kids who got a flu shot last year — by the government's count, that's only half of eligible children — need a new one this season.

For more info, ask your pediatrician or consult this comprehensive FAQ on flu vaccines for kids from the CDC. Also download this useful parents' guide [PDF] on what to do if your child becomes sick, what underlying conditions put your child at higher risk of flu complications, and what symptoms should tip you off to severe disease.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

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HEALTH MANAGEMENT. 115 U.S. children, teens died from flu last season: CDC

n">(Reuters) - Some 115 U.S. children and teens died from influenza last flu season, and many of those deaths were of children who had not gotten an annual flu shot, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends flu shots for children as young as six months old, yet less than a quarter of the 74 children over age six months who died between September 2010 and August 2011 had been vaccinated.
"It's vital that children get vaccinated," Dr. Lyn Finelli, chief of the CDC's Surveillance and Outbreak Response Team, said in a statement.
The CDC said parents often mistakenly think healthy children can survive a bout of the flu, but that is not always so.
Among the deaths detailed in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, released on Thursday, the team found about half of the children had no prior medical condition that would put them at increased risk of flu complications.
The researchers said being young is itself a flu risk factor. Of the children who died, 46 percent were younger than 5 and 29 percent were younger than 2.
Among the 57 children who did have a medical condition, over half had a neurological disorder, 30 percent had pulmonary disease, 25 percent had a chromosome or genetic disorder and 19 percent had congenital heart disease or other cardiac disease.
Only half of the 94 children who died in the hospital were given antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu. Since the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic, the CDC has recommended immediate treatment with antiviral medications in patients with severe flu symptoms.
"We know the flu vaccine isn't 100 percent effective, especially not in children with high risk medical conditions," Finelli said in a statement.
"That's why it's essential that these two medical tools be fully utilized. Vaccinate first; then use influenza antiviral drugs as a second line of defense against the flu. Right now we aren't fully using the medical tools at our disposal to prevent flu illnesses and deaths in children."
Since the CDC started tracking pediatric flu deaths in 2004, the annual number of deaths has ranged from a low of 46 in the 2005-06 flu season to 282 during the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009-2010.
Even though the circulating strains of flu have not changed since the 2010-2011 flu season, the CDC recommends all Americans over the age of six months get flu shots -- even those who got flu shots last year against the same flu strains.
This year's vaccine protects against H1N1 swine flu and two other flu strains called H3N2 and influenza B.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

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