H1N1 Health Alert: Children With Asthma At Greater Risk From H1N1 Influenza

Children with asthma are at greater risk to develop serious symptoms from H1N1 (swine) flu than from seasonal flu, according to a new study. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) a new Canadian study found that children hospitalized with H1N1 were more likely to have asthma (22%) compared to children hospitalized with seasonal flu (6%). However, severity of asthma did not seem to affect risk for H1N1. Children with asthma are among the high-risk groups the CDC has recommended be top priority to receive the H1N1 vaccine. Vaccination is the best protection against both H1N1 and seasonal influenza, and parents and caregivers of children with asthma are recommended to have their children vaccinated. To find out where to get an H1N1 or seasonal flu vaccination, visit http://www.flucliniclocator.org or contact your local department of health.

Parents of children with asthma should monitor their child’s health closely for signs of influenza. Symptoms of influenza include:

- Sudden onset of high fever
- Headache, muscle aches and joint pain
- Cough (usually dry)
- Chills
- Sore throat
- Nasal congestion and runny nose

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Physician Urges Changes In Diagnosis For Sore Throat In Young Adults

New analysis from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) suggests that physicians need to re-think their diagnosis and treatment of sore throat, or pharyngitis, in adolescents and young adults to consider a more newly identified and potentially dangerous culprit as the source of that infection.

Currently, physicians are taught to suspect group A streptococcal bacteria as the primary cause of pharyngitis. But according to findings published Dec. 1 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, physicians also should look for the presence of bacteria called Fusobacterium necrophorum when treating sore throat in young adults and adolescents that worsens or is strep-negative.

“F. necrophorum, which only has been recognized as a potential cause of pharyngitis in adolescents and young adults in the past five years, may cause up to 10 percent of sore throat in those 15-24 years of age,” said Robert Centor, M.D., professor of internal medicine, associate dean of medicine at UAB and the paper’s lead author. “More important, F. necrophorum is associated with a rare but life-threatening complication called Lemierre syndrome.”

Lemierre syndrome mostly affects adolescents and young adults and rarely is seen in pre-adolescents. It begins with a sore throat, followed by an infected jugular vein after four to five days. Abscesses in other parts of the body may occur. Approximately 5 percent of people who get Lemierre syndrome die. Read more