MMWR Article: Severe Influenza Among Children and Young Adults with Neurologic and Neurodevelopmental Conditions — Ohio, 2011
CDC published a new report in MMWR: “Severe Influenza Among Children and Young Adults with Neurologic and Neurodevelopmental Conditions — Ohio, 2011.” This study describes the findings of a joint investigation between the Ohio Department of Health and CDC into an outbreak of influenza in a residential facility for children and young adults with neurologic and neurodevelopmental conditions. Among 130 residents of the facility, 76 (58%) developed respiratory illness in February 2011; 13 became severely ill and seven of those patients died. All 13 severely ill residents had multiple neurologic and neurodevelopmental conditions, and their underlying medical conditions might have hindered early diagnosis and treatment and contributed to the severity of illness. Because persons with neurologic and neurodevelopmental disorders are at high risk for complications from influenza, vaccination should be part of a larger program of influenza prevention that includes antiviral drugs that are given early in the course of illness, ideally within 48 hours of symptom onset. Clinicians should be alert to possible influenza among children and young adults with neurologic and neurodevelopmental conditions, especially during influenza season. Prompt testing and early empiric antiviral treatment in residents with respiratory symptoms in residential or long-term care facilities is important.
To read the entire article, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6051a1.htm?s_cid=mm6051a1_w.
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities