H1N1 infection life-threatening for kids with sickle cell disease--researchers
POSTED September 4, 2010 - 16:08 | POSTED BY Yashika kapoor
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on September 4, 2010 - 16:26
Sickle cell disease is a hereditary ailment that affects nearly 100,000 people in the United States, mostly African Americans.
According to the researchers from the John Hopkins Children’s Center in Maryland, such children have a higher probability of needing emergency treatment or hospitalization, if infected with the H1N1 infection.
Dr John Strouse and his colleagues initiated the following study that found that children with the sickle cell disease were five times more likely to end up in the intensive care unit, if diagnosed with swine flu than those who got infected with the seasonal flu.
H1N1-infected kids were also most likely to require a ventilator to facilitate breathing.
While symptoms of both were almost similar, including fever, cough, running nose, and others, H1N1-infected kids had increased chances of developing acute chest syndrome that is a key death-causing factor for children having the sickle cell disease.
Study details
For the present study, the researchers examined the medical records of 123 children suffering from the sickle cell disease, who were treated for either of the flu from September 1993 to December 2009.
Out of the total kids analyzed by the investigators, 29 were infected with the H1N1 swine flu virus.
The present study highlights the need for both the H1N1 and the seasonal flu and has been detailed in the September issue of the journal Blood.
Flu-shot season
The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of U.S. advises that everyone above six months should get flu-shots and the good news is that only one injection will be enough to fight from the H1N1 and the seasonal flu.
"We don't know what this season will hold, but we do expect there will be more vaccine available at a better time," said CDC director, Thomas Frieden.
"Everyone can benefit from a flu vaccine. You do have to worry about flu. We think that the prediction is likely to be very good based on the strains that are circulating around the world,” Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's national center for immunization and respiratory diseases said.
