Bacterial Infections May Be A
Common Link In Swine Flu Deaths
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) found that of the 36 children who died from H1N1 from April
to August, six had no chronic health conditions. But all of them
had a co-occurring bacterial infection.
The most common co-occurring infection that causes flu-related
deaths is staphylococcus aureus. A third of the population carries
it, most in their nose or on their skin.
The flu causes upper respiratory damage, which allows the staph
to make its way into the lungs.
In a recent H1N1 flu death in Minnesota, the Hennepin County
Medical Examiner's office said that 6-year-old Nathanael Schilling
of Corcoran died on Sept. 24 from an inflammation of the heart,
a rare complication that can result from a flu infection.
He was a first-grader at St. John's Lutheran School in Corcoran,
according to his newspaper funeral notice.
It was the seventh death from H1N1 in Minnesota, and the second
time this year that an otherwise healthy child died after becoming
infected with the new flu strain.
The previous child fatality in Minnesota, which occurred in July,
also involved an otherwise healthy child. That 2-year-old died
because of a co-occurring bacterial infection -- pneumococcus,
which causes pneumonia, said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, Minnesota state
epidemiologist.
Alone, it's not usually dangerous in someone who is healthy.
But the flu virus opens a door, allowing the non-threatening agent
to overwhelm the body and become lethal. It's the combination
of the two that often kills otherwise healthy children and adults.
