An 11-year-old Mesquite student who died Saturday was infected with the H1N1 influenza virus, lab results have confirmed.
Cynthia Garcia was the first Dallas County child with the flu to die. Her case illustrates how people with no underlying health condition such as asthma, diabetes or pregnancy are vulnerable, public health authorities said. Those are among the conditions deemed higher risk with the virus.
“It’s an increasingly recognized concern,” said Dr. Wendy Chung, Dallas County’s chief epidemiologist.
The sixth-grader had no underlying medical conditions but did have pneumonia and a bacterial infection, according to a news release issued Monday by Dallas County Health and Human Services.
A recent report of 36 pediatric H1N1 deaths showed that two-thirds involved youngsters with high-risk health conditions, Chung noted in a letter to the Dallas County-area medical community. But of the deaths of children older than 5 without known underlying conditions, invasive bacterial co-infections were confirmed, she wrote.
That means that the young people were fighting the H1N1 virus while trying to fend off a second infection, Chung said.
Cynthia was enrolled at Price Elementary. The district posted a health advisory on its Web site and sent detailed letters home with students, said Ian Haperin, a spokesman for the district.
Mesquite district officials sent a crew to the school Sunday to do a thorough cleaning, Haperin said.
School counselors visited classes at Price Elementary.
There have been flulike illnesses at the school not an unusually high number, according to the district’s advisory.
Cynthia’s death is the third swine flu-related death in Dallas County. The death of a 52-year-old woman with an underlying medical condition was the first reported death, Aug. 27. The second death, of a 37-year-old man with an existing medical condition, was reported Sept. 4.
No H1N1-related deaths have been reported in Tarrant County, said Vanassa Joseph, spokeswoman for Tarrant County Public Health. Since the virus emerged as a public health concern last spring, there have been 10 hospitalizations in Tarrant County, she said.
The state has had four confirmed swine flu deaths in people younger than 18, the Dallas County health department said in a news release.
By comparison, it said there were 11 pediatric flu deaths in Texas during the 2008-09 flu season, not including this summer.
Two pediatric flu deaths occurred in Dallas County last flu season.
Public health and school officials are urging parents to keep their children at home if they have flu symptoms, such as a fever of 100 degrees or higher, aches and pains, and a sore throat.
“If you are sick or your child is sick, the best thing is to stay at home,” Joseph said.
People are also urged to get the seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 vaccine once it becomes available.
“The best advice Dallas County Health and Human Services can give families is to check your children in the morning, or the night before if necessary, for any signs of illness,” said Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services. “Particularly, you should check your child for fever.”
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