Certain children run high risk with flu: study

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Children with muscular dystrophy,
cerebral palsy and similar conditions run a much higher risk of
severe complications from influenza, underscoring the need for
them to be vaccinated each year, a study said on Tuesday.

A look at 745 children hospitalized with flu found that
those “with neurological and neuromuscular disease were at the
greatest risk of developing breathing problems that would
require them to be put on a breathing machine,” said Ron Keren,
a physician at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who was
the chief author of the study.

The study covered four consecutive flu seasons from June
2000 through May 2004.

The expert panel which advises the U.S. government on
vaccinations recently added children and adults with
neurological and neuromuscular diseases to the list of people
with chronic conditions such as asthma for whom annual flu
vaccinations are recommended.

Children with the conditions have a “significantly
increased probability of respiratory failure” once hospitalized
with flu, said the study published in this week’s Journal of
the American Medical Association.

“Coordinated efforts are needed to educate parents, primary
care pediatricians and pediatric neurologists about the risks
of serious influenza complications and the need for annual
vaccination for (such) children,” the report concluded.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says
that while the entire population is eligible for a flu shot,
initial priority should also be given to certain groups such as
anyone age 65 and older, residents of long-term care facilities
and anyone age 2 to 64 with certain chronic health conditions.