Children

Children between the ages of 6 to 23 months are considered to be at high risk for getting influenza.

Such children should be kept away from environments where the flu might be present, and the flu vaccine is being recommended more and more often for children depending on age, chronic health conditions, and the severity of the flu strain.

As of January 9th, 2004, 93 deaths from the flu had been reported in children for the 2003-2004 influenza season.

“The median age of the 93 children [who died] was 4 years (range: 4 weeks--17 years), with 55 (59%) children aged <5 years and 24 (26%) aged 6--23 months. Among the 92 children whose sex was reported, 41 (45%) were male. A total of 35 (38%) of the 93 children were reported to have had underlying chronic medical conditions, and 41 (44%) were reported to have had no underlying conditions; the medical history was unknown for 17 (18%) children. Of the 55 children for whom the location of death was reported, 15 (27%) died at home, 12 (22%) died in emergency departments, 25 (45%) died as inpatients, and three (5%) died in transport to hospitals.” - http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5253a4.htm

It’s very worthwhile to not 27 percent of the children died at home and 72 percent died on the way to the hospital, in the Emergency Department, or while in the hospital!

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Written for FluFoundation.org October 20, 2004.