Sickle Cell Kids at Greater Risk of Swine Flu Complications (HealthDay)

FRIDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) — Children with sickle cell
disease experience more life-threatening complications from the H1N1 swine
flu than from seasonal flu, a new study has found.

This means that doctors and parents need to be aware that children with
sickle cell disease are more likely to need emergency treatment and to be
hospitalized, Dr. John Strouse of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and
colleagues explained in a Hopkins news release.

The study authors analyzed the medical records of 123 children with
sickle cell disease treated for any kind of flu between September 1993 and
December 2009. Of those, 29 were infected with the 2009 H1N1 swine flu
virus.

Both seasonal flu and the H1N1 virus caused typical flu symptoms, such
as fever, cough and a runny nose, in most of the children. However, those
infected with H1N1 were nearly three times more likely to develop acute
chest syndrome, a leading cause of death in children with sickle cell
disease. It is marked by lung inflammation, reduced ability to absorb
oxygen and shortness of breath.

In addition, compared to children with seasonal flu, H1N1-infected
children had a more than five-times increased risk of ending up in the
intensive care unit, and were more likely to require a ventilator for
breathing.

The study, released online in advance of publication in an upcoming
print issue of the journal Blood, underscores the need for
vaccination against the H1N1 and the seasonal flu strains, the researchers
said.

Sickle cell disease, an inherited disorder characterized by abnormally
shaped blood cells, affects about 100,000 people in the United States,
mostly black Americans. An earlier study from Hopkins Children’s Center
showed that children with sickle cell disease are hospitalized with
seasonal flu nearly 80 times more often than other youngsters.

More information

The Nemours Foundation has more about sickle cell disease.