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http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_17552824

Mill Valley kindergarten student dies after testing positive for flu

"He was diagnosed with the flu," said sheriff's Lt. Scott Anderson. "We don't know if there were other underlying medical complications. That is something we would hope to determine during an autopsy."

Dr. Anju Goel, the county's Deputy Public Health Officer, said, "We know the person who died was infected with influenza; however, we don't know at this point if influenza was actually the cause of death."

Goel said she won't know until mid-week when test results return from a state lab what type of influenza the boy had.

Goel sent a letter Friday to local doctors, hospitals, clinics and the Marin County Office of Education notifying them of the death and that the boy had tested positive for influenza.

Some additional information on the kindergarten student....

MILL VALLEY – A viral infection has been blamed for the death of a 5-year-old boy whose parents found him unresponsive in their Mill Valley home on March 4.

Though the child’s parents were in the house, they were not present in the room at the moment their son succumbed to the illness. As a result, the Coroner Division of the Marin County Sheriff’s Office performed an autopsy to ascertain the cause of death, which is standard procedure whenever a child dies and no adult directly witnesses the event.

“The child was transported from a residence to the hospital,” said Sgt. Keith Boyd, the department’s assistant chief deputy coroner.

Despite “advanced life support measures attempted in the hospital,” doctors were unable to revive him, Boyd added.

The Coroner Division has released the results of the autopsy, which analyzed forensic evidence, tissue samples, toxicology and cell cultures. The investigation ruled the cause of death to be an “acute respiratory infection of viral etiology.” The victim was found to be carrying the H1N1 strain of Influenza A, one of a family of viruses sometimes referred to as swine flu.

Despite the flu diagnosis, the Coroner Division is not yet certain whether H1N1 was responsible for the respiratory infection that claimed the boy’s life. It is possible that the child was carrying another virus, as yet undetected, which could have been the source of the fatal ailment. In addition, the autopsy revealed that the young boy had cardiac hypertrophy, an enlargement of the heart that can be brought on by a variety of different health problems. The final determination will be made based on the results of further testing, which will be available within the next six weeks.

An official from the Mill Valley School District was quoted as saying that attendance rates at the victim’s school have not dipped. Parents of the victim’s classmates are aware that the boy suffered from H1N1, according to news reports, but have not kept their kids away from school due to concerns about the virus spreading.

Vaccination can prevent H1N1 infection in 70-90 percent of cases, but the school the boy attended does not require that students receive the vaccine in order to enroll. Health officials have not disclosed whether the victim had received the vaccine

http://crimevoice.com/kindergarten%E2%8 ... tion-5659/

KTLA News

2:03 p.m. PDT, October 18, 2011
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KTLA) -- Three adults and one child are the first confirmed cases of influenza this year in Los Angeles County.

Three of the individuals were infected with Influenza A H3N2, and one person was infected with H1N1.

The individuals are from the San Fernando Valley and the West Los Angeles area; however there is little doubt that influenza is countywide.
“These confirmed cases mark the beginning of a flu season that can stretch from now until May of next year.................................................

The purpose of the weekly Influenza Watch is to summarize current influenza activity in San Diego County. Click here to download this week's Watch in PDF.

Influenza Surveillance in San Diego County
The current volume of influenza detections reported to Public Health has been at expected levels. During the current season, reported influenza detections have included influenza A/H3 (seasonal), influenza A/H1N1 (2009 pandemic), influenza B, influenza A (un-typed), and influenza A/B (type not specified).

Current: Week 42 (ending 10/22/2011)
•2 new influenza detections reported (1 influenza B, 1 influenza A)
•Emergency department influenza-like-illness (ILI) visits: Expected levels

Influenza Cases Reported, FY 2011–12 (July 1, 2011 – Present)

Positive Test Type/Subtype: Influenza A*
•New Reports: 1
•Total To-Date: 4

Positive Test Type/Subtype: Influenza A (H1) Seasonal
•New Reports: 0
•Total To-Date: 0

Positive Test Type/Subtype: Influenza A (H3) Seasonal
•New Reports: 0
•Total To-Date: 3

Positive Test Type/Subtype: Pandemic 2009 H1N1
•New Reports: 0
•Total To-Date: 1

Positive Test Type/Subtype: Influenza B
•New Reports: 1
•Total To-Date: 2

Positive Test Type/Subtype: Influenza A/B*
•New Reports: 0
•Total To-Date: 1

Totals:
•New Reports: 2
•Total To-Date: 11

*No further characterization performed or results not available at time of publication.

Influenza Detection Reporting
Local healthcare providers are encouraged to report all positive influenza detections to the Epidemiology Program by FAX to (858) 715-6458. Fax a confidential morbidity report (CMR) or printed patient laboratory result. If known, please indicate if patient was admitted to ICU or died.

Two cases of seasonal flu otherwise known as influenza virus type A, have been confirmed in local children, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at LSU Health Shreveport announced Wednesday.
Dr. John Vanchiere, associate professor of pediatrics in the school of medicine and chief of pediatric infectious diseases said the children, who are unrelated, were treated at Shreveport area pediatrician’s offices and specimens were sent to the medical center for testing.
Based on testing at LSU Health, the two viruses have been characterized as H3N2 strains, which are different than the pandemic H1N1 strain of 2009, which has circulated the past two years.
Typically, the flu is not expected to show up until after Thanksgiving. Last year, the first cases were confirmed November 17 by the lab at LSU Health. Once in the community, a strain of influenza virus will usually circulate for four to eight weeks..........................

New swine, drug-resistant flu strains tracked

Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, January 7, 2012

The flu season hasn't kicked in yet, but Bay Area infectious disease experts are on the alert for new strains of the virus, including another swine flu that's popped up in parts of the United States and a drug-resistant flu circulating in the Southern Hemisphere.

It's possible that these strains of influenza will never arrive in California, where the flu season officially starts in October but doesn't usually pick up steam until January or February. So far, very few cases of influenza have been reported statewide. One person, a Bakersfield man, has died from the flu.

But since the 2009 swine flu pandemic, public health and infectious disease experts have upped their surveillance of new flu strains, and they're paying close attention to what's happening worldwide in hopes of being better prepared for the type of flu season that will hit here.

"It's better that we know what's happening earlier rather than be surprised like we were with the 2009 pandemic, which came out of the blue," said Dr. Charles Chiu, head of the viral diagnostics laboratory at UCSF.

"We haven't seen the emergence of, say, a new pandemic strain of influenza," Chiu said. "But we've been getting these worrisome trickles of reports. And these little stories are all reminders that influenza still poses a big threat, a global threat."

Most people who get the flu suffer from fever, joint and muscle pain, coughing and fatigue before recovering without medical attention. But the flu can be deadly in older people, babies and people with weak immune systems.

New strains of flu could infect larger groups of people if humans have no natural resistance to the virus. And a new, more virulent strain could be devastating - more people could be infected and with a deadlier disease.
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