• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Certain children run high risk with flu: study

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 November 2005, 16:02 CST

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.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category