Report: Increase seen in staph-related flu deaths in children

CHICAGO -- More children died from flu last year because they also had staph infections, according to a new government report that urges parents to have their children get the flu shot.

The number of deaths wasn't high -- 73 during the 2006-07 flu season -- but there was more than a fivefold increase in hard-to-treat complications. And preliminary figures indicate deaths rose again during this past winter's flu season.

Public health officials say the numbers underscore the importance of a brand-new recommendation that all children, from 6 months through 18, get routine flu shots. Before this year, shots were recommended for children younger than 5.

More than half the children who died were between the ages of 5 and 17 and had been healthy until they got the flu.

Parents shouldn't panic, "but it's an important message to say even healthy children develop complications and die almost before anything much can be done for them," said Dr. Gregory Poland, a Mayo Clinic infectious disease specialist. He was not involved in the federal study, but has worked with a federal vaccine advisory committee and has consulted for vaccine makers.

Flu season is just beginning and this year's vaccine should be widely available later this month.

While few children die from the flu virus, it puts about 20,000 youngsters in the hospital each year in the U.S.

Only 6 percent of the children studied who died had been fully vaccinated against the flu. Two doses are recommended each flu season for children aged 6 months to 8 years who have not been vaccinated previously; for older children, just one dose a year is needed.

The study, appearing in the October edition of Pediatrics, is based on an analysis of reported flu deaths from the 2004-2005 through 2006-2007 seasons. Flu deaths in children during those years totaled 47, 46 and 73, respectively.

The percentage of those who also had bacterial infections jumped from 6 percent to almost 36 percent. Most had staph germs, and 60 percent of the staph infections involved the dangerous MRSA bug that is resistant to antibiotics.

More recent data suggest flu deaths among children have continued to rise, with 86 tallied for the 2007-08 season in a preliminary report last month, said Lyn Finelli, the study's lead author, who is a researcher for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Preliminary information also suggests there's been no drop in fatal flu-staph cases in children and those could still be on the rise too, she said.

Staph germs commonly live in the nose or skin without causing illness; more than one-fourth of U.S. children and adults carry them.

These bugs can become deadly when they get into the bloodstream, sometimes through wounds. The flu is thought to make people more susceptible to bacterial infections like staph, Finelli said.