Swine flu attack puts baby in hospital

Dr Mark Jacobs (R) has warned the public that a small proportion of the population will suffer more from swine flu than the rest. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A 9-month-old baby is in Starship hospital suffering severely from swine flu.

The baby is believed to be the youngest victim of the disease in New Zealand.

Starship general manager Kay Hyman said last night an infant had been admitted, but would give little further information. She said she was trying to adhere to the family's wishes.

She said the infant, understood to be 9 months old, was admitted to the intensive care unit on June 27 and transferred to a general ward about a week later.

The Herald understands the baby had breathing problems which led to a cardiac arrest.

Ms Hyman thought the child would be the youngest in the country to have been admitted to an intensive care unit with swine flu.

She would not discuss the baby's condition.

Seven patients in Auckland with confirmed or suspected swine flu and one confirmed case in Northland are in intensive care units. All are stable.

Several other swine flu patients are in general wards in the Auckland-Northland region.

Nationally, the toll of deaths linked to swine flu remains at three.

The Ministry of Health says seasonal flu is usually linked to about 400 deaths a year, and although the swine flu deaths are tragic, they are no cause for increased concern.

The Director of Public Health, Dr Mark Jacobs, said: "We have always known that although for the great majority of people with swine flu the illness is mild to moderate, a small proportion of people get a more serious illness."

Two other deaths possibly linked to the virus are before coroners, awaiting autopsy and laboratory results.

The Chief Coroner, Judge Neil MacLean, said several potential swine flu deaths were being reported to coroners each day.

Coroners were not usually involved in flu-related deaths as they were considered deaths by natural causes, but because swine flu was a new cause of death, they had been keeping an eye on it for several weeks.

"That means, often, autopsies and analysis ... and in most cases until the weekend, they came back negative, Judge MacLean said.

"Then we had the first two positives."

Yesterday, the Government ordered 300,000 doses of an experimental vaccine from Baxter Healthcare which will be offered to 150,000 front-line health staff and emergency workers if it is proven safe and effective.

They would get two doses each.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said that because international demand for vaccine was high, the Government decided to place the order with Baxter mainly as an insurance policy, though the medicine had not been through human trials.

"We want to be in the position of having the vaccine and not needing it, rather than the other way around."

The vaccine was to be delivered this month, but would not be used for an immunisation programme unless licensed by drugs regulator Medsafe.

The Government also has a long-standing option to buy more vaccine, if required, under a contract with Australian vaccine maker CSL.

Mr Ryall's officials said the ministry had not recommended mass-vaccination against swine flu because most people recover at home without needing medical intervention.

* The toll

The number of confirmed cases of swine flu was 1059 last night, up by a tenth since Sunday.

Swine flu has driven the estimated number of all flu cases to well beyond twice that at the same time last winter, but health officials say it is within the range of "normal seasonal activity".

The national death toll remains at three.