Monday, November 7, 2011

Influenza Combined with MRSA Increased Death Risk Among Children During 2009 H1N1 Pandemic

Influenza Combined with MRSA Increased Death Risk Among Children During 2009 H1N1 Pandemic

 
 
Swine Influenza
A young boy receives an H1N1 Flu vaccine shot from a nurse at Carlin Springs Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia.
Simultaneous infection of the H1N1 influenza and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) increased the risk for flu-related mortality 8-fold among previously healthy children during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to research led by Children's Hospital Boston.
With emergency funding from the National Institutes of Health, study leader Adrienne Randolph, MD, MsC, of the Division of Critical Care Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, and her colleagues in the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigator's Network tracked 838 children admitted to 35 pediatric ICUs around the country with probable 2009 H1N1 influenza from April 2009 to April 2010.

The median age of the critically-ill children was 6 years. Most had respiratory failure, two-thirds required mechanical ventilation, and some required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for advanced cardiac and respiratory support.
Their disease progressed rapidly, and 75 children (9 percent) died, two-thirds of them within two weeks of ICU admission.
"Some children were quickly overwhelmed, and many died despite centers doing everything to save them," Randolph said, according to a press release. "Early in the pandemic, centers were worried that they would run out of ventilators, that they would run out of ICU beds.".... 

http://www.thirdage.com/news/influenza-combined-with-mrsa-increased-death-risk-among-children-during-2009-h1n1-pandemic_11-07-2011

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