Another Nassau child, 9, most likely killed by flu

BY STACEY ALTHERR | Staff writer Delthia Ricks contributed to this story.
) G9 Q. W2 F8 ZMarch 3, 2009
A 9-year-old Woodmere child who died Saturday most probably had the flu, according to the Nassau County Department of Health.

, K- N. r1 W3 r3 C: L. t5 c0 H+ }% qIf the presence of the virus is confirmed, the death will be the second of a child in the county in a month from influenza A.
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The Nassau medical examiner told the health department that the Woodmere student's presumptive cause of death was pediatric flu. Laboratory results were expected later this week.

Flu season runs until May, and public health officials are urging everyone who hasn't gotten a flu shot to do so. The county has ordered extra vials of the vaccine from the state to make sure doctors' offices and hospitals do not run low.
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"It's not too late," Nassau Health Department spokeswoman Cynthia Brown said. And she urged people who have flu symptoms to "please check with a health care professional."
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Last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its recommendation for flu vaccination to include children between the ages of 6 months and 18 years.
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The first influenza A death was confirmed last month of a 10-year-old in Levittown. The death was the first of a child attributed to influenza on Long Island in the five years since public health agencies have been required to report pediatric flu deaths. Health officials have not identified either Long Island child.
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1 t( @+ c" B$ D7 TState officials say that pediatric deaths are uncommon. So far this year, with three months left in the flu season, there have been two other confirmed influenza deaths in children in the state and 17 deaths of children nationwide. Last year, 83 children died of influenza nationally, according to the CDC. In the general population, 2,500 people died of the flu in New York last year.
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Health officials urge sanitary measures to prevent contagion, such as sneezing into a sleeve and washing hands often. Dr. Pascal James Imperato, dean of public health at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, said vaccination is still the best method of preventing flu and flu-related deaths.
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One of the strains - H1N1 - has shown marked resistance to the leading flu antiviral drug, oseltamivir, which is marketed as Tamiflu. The CDC is advising doctors to use other antivirals or use Tamiflu in combination with other medications.

Flu symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, weakness, runny nose, sore throat and cough with occasional nausea, vomiting and diarrhea in children. The cough is often severe and prolonged. Most people recover in two to seven days.
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