Texas Child Dies From Swine Flu

The Centers for Disease Control confirmed the first American death from the swine flu—a 23-month-old child from Texas died. The CDC also said the child had recently traveled to Mexico. Acting CDC chief Dr. Richard Besser told the Today Show, "Even though we've been expecting [that there would be some deaths], it is very, very sad. As a pediatrician and a parent, my heart goes out to the family." He added, "I don't think it (the reported death in Texas) indicates any change in the strain. We see with any flu virus a spectrum of disease symptoms... It's very important that people take their concern and channel it into action...it is crucial that people understand what they need to do if symptoms appear." Here's the CDC's Swine Flu & You website, which points out, "Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods." (Children are also very vulnerable to the seasonal flu.)

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By Jen Chung in News on April 29, 2009 9:18 AM

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Past Taliban

I really really really hope Crawford Texas is VERY close to Mexico.

jaycjay

There are roughly 36,000 deaths attributed to "seasonal influenza" in the US each year. This year to date there have been over 13,000.

So the score so far: regular flu 13,000; swine flu 1.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/28/regular.flu/?iref=mpstoryview

hotstepper

thanks for the link.

NannyState

Better visit your wonderful neighborhood Duane Reade before it degenerates into a cesspool of greasy fingerprints and nasal ooze.

oops, too late.

grandeur

I thought TEXAS was succeeding from the nation. Might be a good time to do so.

gossipgirl

Succeeding?

tangent

One down, 35,999 to go.

Swine Flu vs Regular Flu 2009 on PPV.

whitecastlerock

We need some West Nile mosquitoes to kick the swine flu's ass..

Novanglus

This article is very misleading. The child that died was a Mexican National who came here after getting sick to get treatment. No US citizens have died from this yet.

jaypea11

Agreed! This is an important point. The child didn't *recently travel to Mexico* he recently traveled FROM Mexico to Brownsville, Texas.

mmlanglie

Don't people realize that those face masks don't actually do anything? They're more for peace of mind. I guess there were better masks that we were supposed to get, but flu epidemic preparations were eliminated from the stimulus bill because they were considered pork. Oh, the irony.

Rocknrope

It depends on the type of mask you're using. While no mask is fail-safe, the NIOSH-approved N95 type respirator masks are better than the type you get from your local hardware store to avoid paint fumes.

Plus, a mask helps keep you from touching your nose and mouth, which is a very common way of getting sick, swine flu or not.

Still, I'm not wearing one until this thing is officially a level-six pandemic, which I don't think will happen.

nicemarmot

Yeah I'm pretty sure viruses are small enough to go right through those masks.

hotstepper

i wonder, when the media jackals are not drooling over a story, how many americans die from the flu on any given day.

dr zippy

Here is the CDC website on the swine flu outbreak.

hotstepper

not the hog, the regular flu. it appears tangent has some type of stat below, but he/she did not provide a citation. google is inundated by swine flu results when you search for flu stats. just trying to get some real perspective amongst the hysteria.