Ten year old boy died of swine flu

Ten year old boy died of swine flu

12/31/2011

In Munich, a ten-year-old boy died as a result of a swine flu infection. After a particularly severe illness, the boy suffered a fatal septic shock on Friday in the hospital Harlaching.

The ten-year-old boy had been ill with swine flu during a cure at the Gaissach specialist clinic in Bad Toelz. He suffered from high fever, vomiting, diarrhea and threatened to collapse. Therefore, an emergency doctor on Thursday afternoon, the referral to the Harlaching hospital in Munich arranged. At the Harlaching Clinic, the boy finally died on Friday afternoon as a result of the disease, with initial microbiological tests suggesting an infection with the H1N1 virus.

Ten-year-old gets sick with swine flu at the spa
As the „Southgerman newspaper“ reported, was the ten-year-old in the Gaissach specialist clinic because of his overweight for the cure. This was also the first symptoms of swine flu disease, which were the reason for the referral to the hospital Harlaching. When the boy was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine in Munich, however, his chances according to statements of the local chief physician, Axel Heep, were already there „very bad“. In addition to the high fever, violent vomiting and diarrhea, the ten-year-old suffered from liver failure and threatened circulatory failure, his condition was already life-threatening, said Heep. On Friday afternoon the boy died in intensive care after a septic shock. The ten-year-old is - after numerous successful treatments - the first death at the Klinikum Harlaching due to the H1N1 virus.

Microbiological studies indicate H1N1 infection
On the basis of the first microbiological examinations, the treating physicians assume that the boy was infected with the swine flu virus H1N1. However, the pathological findings are still pending, it was said at the Klinikum Harlaching. Furthermore, a spokesman for the hospital emphasized that, nevertheless, nobody has to be afraid of breaking an epidemic. Also, the swine flu is only for adults and children whose immune system is already weakened for other reasons, especially dangerous. However, those who suffer from chronic pre-existing conditions should be extra cautious and protect themselves, according to the experts' recommendations, with a flu vaccine.

Flu wave is currently at its highest level
Overall, the seasonal flu epidemic is estimated by the Working Group on Influenza at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is nearing its peak. A large proportion of those affected (around 80 percent) are also infected with the H1N1 virus. However, the health consequences of a swine flu infection are relatively manageable in most cases. Only in exceptional cases, the disease takes such a heavy course, as in the boy in the hospital Harlaching. However, according to the RKI, the likelihood of particularly severe swine flu disease progression is significantly higher for persons with chronic pre-existing conditions. (Fp)

Also read:
Immune to flu after swine flu infection?
Swine flu is back: RKI recommends vaccination
Swine flu is no reason to panic

Picture: Gerd Altmann