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Filed under: Medical Conditions, Funny Stuff
Chances are, you may not have thought much about the dangers of the flu before last year's high profile H1N1 flu pandemic. After all, the flu is just like a bad cold, right?
Wrong. The truth is the flu can kill, and it isn't just a danger to elderly or sick people; it also kills children -- healthy children.
Ian Moise, who died from the flu when he was just 6-1/2 months old, was one of those children.
Approximately 20,000 children younger than 5 are hospitalized each year due to the flu. In fact, infants and toddlers are hospitalized as a result of the flu at rates similar to elderly people and at higher rates than people of all other ages. And, on an average, nearly 100 children die in the United States from the flu and its complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
After Ian's death in 2003, his parents, Julie and Glenn Moise, joined Families Fighting Flu (FFF), a nonprofit, volunteer-based organization of families and health care practitioners who work to educate people about the severity of influenza and the importance of vaccinating children against the flu every year. Each FFF member family either has had a child who has died from the flu or who has experienced severe medical complications as a result of the flu.
Julie Moise agreed to share Ian's story with ParentDish, in the hopes that other parents will be spared the tragic loss her family has experienced.
ParentDish: How long had Ian been sick with the flu?
Julie Moise: Ian developed his first symptom on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m., and in less than 30 hours, we lost our beautiful baby.
PD: Had he been seen by a doctor while he was sick?
JM: Yes, Ian had been seen by doctors twice, and we had also called the local nurse hotline for advice twice.
PD: What did the doctors tell you about his condition?
JM: We took him to the pediatrician's office when he first got sick, and the doctor told us that it looked like the flu. He told us that we should just treat his symptoms, keep him comfortable and schedule a follow-up appointment if his symptoms didn't improve.
But later that evening, his breathing had gotten rapid, and he seemed very sick. So, we decided to take him to an urgent care center that specializes in children, where they tested him for the flu. They told us that he had tested positive for Influenza A and negative for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and I thought "Oh, good, it's just the flu." The doctor there also told us to treat his symptoms and follow up if he didn't start to improve.
PD: So they thought he was well enough to go home?
JM: Yes, everybody just kept saying, "Oh, it just sounds like the flu -- keep him hydrated." So, we took him home. But he still didn't seem well the next day, so I called the pediatrician again.
PD: Did you take Ian back to the pediatrician?
JM: By this time, I wasn't feeling well myself; I was starting to get sick. My husband came home and we decided to take him to the emergency room because we just didn't like his coloring. And right then is when Ian stopped breathing. Glenn was holding him and, to me, it was almost like he had waited for his daddy to come home.
PD: What did you do?
JM: We called an ambulance, but we live very close to the hospital, so we jumped in the truck and headed for the hospital. I started rescue breathing -- as a flight attendant, I'm trained in rescue breathing -- but I could tell he wasn't responding. The fire station is two blocks from our house, so we pulled in there, and the firemen started CPR. The ambulance met us there to take us to the hospital, about three miles away. But they were never able to revive Ian at all.
PD: Did Ian have some other health condition that contributed to his death?
JM: We thought he must have had some underlying health condition that we weren't aware of, but his heart and lungs were fine. But he had so much mucus built up in his esophagus, it caused respiratory failure and cardiac arrest. So, no, he didn't have an underlying health condition; he died from complications of influenza.
PD: Had he gotten a flu vaccine?
JM: Yes, he had just been at his 6-month check-up 10 days prior and gotten the first of his two vaccines; he was due to get his second vaccine a month after that.
PD: Why two vaccines?
JM: Children under 9 who receive the flu vaccine for the first time need to receive two doses to achieve a high enough level of protection.
PD: Did your other children get vaccinated that year?
JM: Yes. My other two boys, Ryan and Sean, who were 5 and 7 then, had gotten vaccinated, and neither of them got the flu that year. My husband and I did not get vaccinated, and we both got the flu that year. I tested positive when Ian died, and Glenn got sick two days later and received the news of his positive test results while we were at Ian's funeral.
PD: What's the most important thing you can tell parents?
JM: Protect your family and get vaccinated. It's the number one way to prevent the spread of the flu, and the flu can kill -- it can kill healthy children, and I think that's what's so scary.
For more information on the flu, prevention and treatment, visit the Flu.gov website.
Related: Kids, Adults Should Get Flu Vaccine, American Lung Association Urges
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 2)
9-14-2010 @ 5:00PM
Michelle said...My daughter was 2 and when she got the flu. She had a fever one evening, I gave her Tylenol and was herself again-until I got her up the next morning. She was having a difficult time breathing. Took her to the drs office, breathing treatments didn't work. Drs office sent us to the hospital, xray showed severe inflammation of her trachea. Not improving,we were ambulanced to a children's hospital 2 hours away. There, she stopped breathing twice-code blue. Luckily, she was intubated and was able to survive with the help of a ventilator. She recovered, but I knew when hospital clergy came to see me that there it was very serious. Turned out she had the influenza, which weakened her immune system to the point that she picked up a serious bacteria (that there is no vaccine for) that closed up her throat. The flu vaccine may have prevented this from happening to my child. If I would have left her in bed for just an hour longer that morning, she probably would have died. Don't think it couldn't happen to your child. Don't go through the same 24 hours I went through. You owe it to your child to get them vaccinated for the flu!!
Reply
9-15-2010 @ 11:12AM
PJELOFSON said...Sorry for people's losses. This is a difficult issue, however it is a personal choice whether or not to vaccinate. You should be aware that even if someone does get the vaccination, it is not considered 100% effective, and so it may not be protective. The best protection is good hygiene, keeping sanitary wipes handy when you have been at the store or out in public, and when flu season is going on, wear a mask to avoid breathing the virus.
Unfortunately, some people have greater susceptibility than others. Being mindful of your proximity to others when you're out is the best you can do for prevention, along with cleaning common surfaces and your hands with disinfectant wipes.
9-14-2010 @ 10:06PM
cari said...and some people have died from the flu shot.I'll take my chances on getting the flu.
Reply
9-15-2010 @ 7:09AM
Mustang Bill said...If you read the article carefully it says that the infant who died "had his flu shot 10 days prior to his death"..... Now that tells me the shot gave the child the flu that he died from... Sorry I don't buy the flu shot and I don't get them.. It just makes the virus stronger year after year.
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9-15-2010 @ 7:46AM
Don said...The flu shot it doesn't always work with someones immune system, it has some where in the 90th percentile efficacy(I'm not sure of the exact rate so this is a guess in the ball park). The way the vaccination of an entire population is supposed to work is that the majority of people get vaccinated, there by helping to protect people who cannot get a vaccination or the vaccination doesn't work for them such as the little boy in the story, this is called herd immunity.
Secondly the flu changes from year to year it doesn't get stronger. Some strains tend to become more dangerous when they mutate(which is another way of saying evolve), such as the H1N1 strain from last year. That strain was very close to the same flu that killed millions of people in the 1920's, researcher believed that preventative measures were needed to stop another pandemic like the one 90 years ago. If it did mutate into the flu of the 1920's it would of had a devastating impact on a lot more people.
so please reconsider a flu shot this year, you could save of someone just by being vaccinated, with out ever knowing it. Also ask your doctor about a pertussis vaccination, this could save a child's life.
9-15-2010 @ 9:18AM
linda said...I agree with you. The fact that he had the flu shot prior to getting the flu means to me that he probably got the flu and its complication from the vaccine! My children have had reactions to vaccines. My cousing was temporarily paralyzed last year the day she got the pneumonia shot. The doctors told her it was in her head and she couldn't prove that it was the vaccine. My friend gave her son the flu shot because he has asthma and he got the sicker with the flu than his sister did. Also she didn't get the flu at all probably due to vitamin d supplements she was taking. Many pregnat woman who got the vaccine had miscarriages. There was a whole forum of them telling their stories. I have a problem with taking my perfectly healthy children to the doctors for shots and seeing them come down with all kinds of other health problems(allergies, rashes, asthma,etc...). If you want to be sure, ask your doctor to sign a paper that states that the vaccine will prevent the sickness and cause absolutely no harmful side effects or he will be responsible. You can be sure he won't sign.
Perhaps the h1n1 wasn'y so bad last was because many didn't get the shot.
9-15-2010 @ 10:37AM
Sarah said...For young infants, they have an immature immune system and must get the vaccine in 3 separate shots spread out for them to acquire full immunity. This child had only 2 of the 3 shots, so he hadn't had time to become fully immune to the virus. The flu can turn deadly quickly, filling up the lungs with fluid, not letting the gases exchange and you become hypoxic and die very fast if not put on a ventilator @ 100% oxygen.
My sweet cousin got the flu last fall, got so sick so fast and was in ICU for 2 months on a ventilator, medically paralyzed, and she almost died several times. She was saved by God, sent home on oxygen and is still not back to her old self. She had no predisposing factors - no asthma, did not smoke, was a healthy young woman.
Get your whole family flu shots!
9-15-2010 @ 8:36AM
John said...If you don't know about the benefits of vitamin D regarding the flu then you are doing your child a disservice. Read up on your own about how to raise your child's vitamin D level. It will also help asthmatics.
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9-15-2010 @ 9:18AM
Very Concerned said...You have to be out of your mind to get a flu vaccine. I can only imagine the amount of illness they are causing, NOT preventing. Please take the time to do your own research online. The big pharma companys have us all brainwashed into thinking we are all going to die without them. Meanwhile they are making BILLIONS. I personally know people who have become very ill after being vaccinated.
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9-15-2010 @ 9:26AM
Merry said...Do your research. Flu shots are a cash cow for the pharmaceutical companies.
Do flu shots work? Not in healthy babies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oIMb2KA448
Why the Flu Vaccine Doesn't Work and adverse reactions to the flu vaccine include joint inflammation and arthritis, anaphylactic shock (and other life-threatening allergic reactions), and Guillain-Barré syndrome, a paralytic autoimmune disease.http://www.yourspine.com/Chiropractic/Why+the+Flu+Vaccine+Does+Not+Work.aspx
Government Now Admits Flu Vaccine Did Not Work .
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/01/28/flu-prevention.aspx
Why the Flu Vaccine Doesn't Work
http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/a/aa011604a.htm
Doubts Grow Over Flu Vaccine in Elderly
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/health/02flu.html?_r=1
Does the Flu Shot Work? Not according to Customer Service
http://www.wellsphere.com/general-medicine-article/does-the-flu-shot-work-not-according-to-customer-service/543213
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9-15-2010 @ 10:40AM
Sarah said...It is a shame that the only people who comment on these types of stories are the ones that vehemently disagree with what is being said, in this case getting a flu shot. As mentioned earlier, vaccines are effective when the majority of a population is vaccinated. No medicine is 100% effective and side-effect free, so it is completely reasonable that a doctor would not sign that there will be no side effects to a vaccine. Penicillin can also cause side effects, as can tylenol, and whatever medicine your child takes to be treated for the flu. However many if not most people decide that the benefits outweigh the risks. I hope that all those who have commented on this post do not also refuse to get their children vaccinated for measles, mumps, tetanus, polio etc...these are serious diseases and you can put your own child and other children at risk by not being vaccinated. You can say "the flu is different, it isn't serious," and perhaps it is, or perhaps there is just not yet enough data out there to show the true benefits of the vaccine.
The last few comments above do offer one good piece of advice, which is to conduct your own research to get all sides of the debate, as well as some actual scientific evidence, to make the decision about what is right for you and your child.
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9-15-2010 @ 8:49PM
PJELOFSON said...Sarah: This why they call it a discussion board. It prompts people to reply and discuss each other's views. Advocates and critics are important to give individuals the opportunity to see both sides.
I understand parents with young children being alarmed by the news of these adverse reactions and "flu deaths." However many don't recognize that often what they are seeing is the child's bad reaction to the vaccination itself - and it can kill. The same can be said for the Gardasil (sp) immunizations.
The point is to be aware of what you're putting into your, or your children's bodies, that it can harm as well as help. Do your research. IF you have any doubt whatsoever, DON'T do it.
I was dismayed when we took my grand nephew for immunizations and saw the nurse come in with two fistfuls of vaccinations to give him. He stopped talking for 1 year after this onslaught of vaccines on his immune system. The synergisistic effect of all these vaccines has NOT been studied, but any parent or grandparent can tell you when their young one takes developmental steps backward after immunizations that there is a negative connection.
Be aware of these things that can harm your children. Don't let your Dr's office BATCH immunizations. Its important that you take your child in weekly to get each shot separately. You should do this for their well being. The key here is to use common sense and critical thinking skills. If you don't know enough, educate yourself and do the research until you do.
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9-15-2010 @ 11:35AM
jcc1 said...vaccines in THEORY would work great, problem is medical industry/government treats us like cattle & barely regulates the vaccine makers & delivers a product not fit for a caveman...a case was just recently won in Vaccine court against the MMR shot, people need to wake up & realize those nurses giving your kids waaaaaay too many unregulated shots, have NO IDEA what will happen to them, nor are they preparred to diagnose or treat them properly if they do...we gave my son his shots, he nearly died & has had severe health problems ever since. My daughter has had ZERO shots, only missed 2 consecutive days of school in 5 years, her math/reading/athletic skills are 2 yrs ahead of her classmates... its pretty clear, all that junk in those shots & undiagnosed bad reactions are either slightly retarding or greatly retarding & killing children ....I work in healthcare too, so don't give me any garbage about not knowing what I'm talking about
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9-15-2010 @ 12:14PM
jcc1 said...immunity to the FLU is in our genes... only time 'plagues' break out is during WARS or catostrophic natural events...americans need to wake up, this includes my colleges in healthcare, cause the STORY being told about vaccines should be listed in fiction... ...there is MERCURY in flu shots & last I checked, no levels of mercury ADDED to products are ok for infants, especially ones who already have health problems ...being that the medical industry doesn't take into consideration a childs health to qualify him or her for shots, this makes them about as safe as playing russian roulette... 1 in 30 kids diagnosed with either autism, ADD, metabolic sydrome, crohns/UC, MS & many other problems that greatly coincide with either the diseases they are supposedly being vaccinated for, or the vaccine side effects themselves..
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9-15-2010 @ 12:05PM
Stephanie said...Oh my god, I dont even know where to start here. First of all...you people out there who are using SCARE TACTICS against parents to get them to not vaccinate are a bunch of freaks. Really you are. You say "do the research" but obviously none of you actually do the research. The flu vaccine CANNOT cause the flu. That is insane that people are still buying into that myth. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. There is no way humanly possible for a "NON LIVE" virus to suddenly come to life in your system and give you the flu. If you "do the research", you will know that the reason that some people end up with the flu after a flu shot is because they were ALREADY exposed to the flu before the shot had its effectiveness. There was just a study released this week that Thermisol (you know that thing that "causes" autism) ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT cause autism in any way, shape or form. Again, "do your research": Everyone says "Ill take my chances on the flu". Ya, you do that. Until you really get a bad version of the flu, you may think differently. I "refused" to get the flu shot for years and have been hospitalized with flu related complications 6 times in my life so far (Im not even 30). Since getting the flu shot yearly (my first was 2006), i have YET to get the flu. IN fact, I have been much healthier the entire winter season since I started getting flu shots. And again, with those "chances", again, you do that and see what happens. My son who is 3 had the H1N1 last winter. HE was INSANELY sick. I have never seen a child that sick and will have him first in line this year for his flu shot. He was LIFELESS for days. He was on 7 breathing treatments a day and at the pediatricians daily. They did not want to hospitalize him because so many people were being hospitalized and ending up dying from secondary infections. It wasnt worth it to take that "chance" of him going to the hospital. He got through but he was a sick sick boy for 2 months. I would never wish that on another child. And the whole "it causes miscarriages". Look at the ratio of vaccination and miscarriages. It is like .5%....There are 6 million pregnancies a year in our country and 2 million end in miscarriage. WOW, those are PRETTY HIGH ODDS....Hmmm...maybe these miscarriages are party of the "norm" amount figured per year....Hmmm...again, "DO YOUR RESEARCH" before spewing FACTS that are not true
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9-15-2010 @ 7:01PM
linda said...This is to address Stephanie who feels informed people are "freaks."
We are not the one using "scare tactics" to scare people from getting vaccines. That would imply I have something to gain. I have nothing to gain from anyone deciding not to use vaccines. However the ones who do have something to gain are the pharma companies who need you to believe in their product! And so they are the ones using scare tactics. I am so passionate about this topic because I from my own experience have seen the harm that vaccines can do. My daughter had a shot and that night her lungs closed up on her and she couldn't talk cause she could hardly breath. Her fingers turned blue! Doctor said it was pneumonia. When I asked about the vaccine shot she just had, he quickly brushed it off as impossible. This is the first problem. Doctors don't do their jobs and really look out for whether or not a child is having a reaction to a vaccine. So the real number of vaccine reactions out there are not being accurately reported. And I'm not the only parent to experience this.
So since doctors are not doing their jobs of being vigilant, patient advocates, that means I have to do it.
Now as far as getting the flu from the shot. If you read the insert a side effect is flu like illness! The same symptoms you would get if you had the flu. Perhaps the boy was already carrying the flu and he wouln't have gotten the flu. But perhaps the flu vaccine with the added ingredients such as..thimerasol,polysorbate 80,formaldehyde,and other such things..weakened his immune system or made it overreact to the point of death. And I don't give a damn what some so-called study states about vaccines not causing autism, I listen to common sense. People who have healthy kids, give them a shot, and then watch their child become ill,suffer seizures,allergies, strange rashes, or regress developmentally. I listen to my own experience with side effects.
The miscarriages happened to healthy pregnant woman who were advised to get a flu shot because of the "scare tactics" and then they had miscarriages.
I have children that were not vaccinated and are the healthiest of the bunch. NO asthma, allergies, ear infections, eczema. I
have done the research, kept my own medical records, and have used my own experience to back up what I say. It sounds like the one that needs to do the research is you because the only thing I hear you saying are the comments and excuses handed out by the medical establishment to protect themselves. You go ahead and get those concoctions!
9-16-2010 @ 12:46PM
Michelle said...Stephanie,
I agree with you that people are freaks. It's funny how they believe any other source of online info out there, like on youtube or whatever, but if the government is any way shape or form involved, than they CHOOSE not to believe it. The gov is not always out to hurt us, not everything is a conspiracy theory, people. Unless you have experienced the flu yourself you should not be giving advice against the flu shot. In my previous post I explained how my daughter go the flu. What I forgot to mention is that I am the one who gave it to her. I got lazy about getting the shot that year, and passed it on to my daughter's weaker immune system. And hand washing, eating healthy, etc. will not stop you from getting it. I wash my hands anywhere from 25-50 times per day, but that is not going to clean the air I breath. Being out in public and walking where someone just coughed or sneezed, bringing home produce and other groceries which may have been touched my someone who is sick, library books, you name it, the flu virus can be anywhere. The reason we have so little disease in this country is because the majority of us do get vaccinated. So all those people who don't have us to thank for keeping them healthy. That won't last forever, though. The current pertussis outbreak is due to people either not getting to shot, or not keeping up to date with their vaccination. If you saw your daughter blue in the face, gasping for what could be the last breath of her life, you might just change your mind. Don't go through what I went through, get the vaccine!!! The chance of yo getting the flu is much higher than having a reaction from the vaccine, so why would you take the larger risk anyway?
9-15-2010 @ 1:26PM
jcc1 said...whats really scary about his, is the vaccine makers/Drs/big pharma definitly know there are literally thousands of possible side effects & life threatening risks & that they are happening to an ever growing majority of kids/people receiving shots, yet instead of trying to inform, prevent & treat, they instead make it ILLEGAL to use our constitutionally protected court systems & shuffle plaintiffs off to what is called 'VACCINE COURT' (secret military style tribunals for those claiming vaccines harmed them or their kids)...sounds like something from 1984 or the Soviet Union, but its happening right here in the US...& you trust these guys with your kids vaccines?
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9-16-2010 @ 11:16PM
Ben said...You know, most people who make the comments against non-vaccinators and have their own scary stories to tell about how sick their children, or someone else they know, got with the flu, usually are big time vaccinators, so that would mean their small children already have a compromised immune system from all the previous vaccines. I would assume most treat their children to multiple trips to McDonalds to have a healthy serving of more toxic crap that does nothing to help strengthen an already compromised immune. Who knows what else they are eating but chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and Kid Cuisines aren't going to cut it people!
Those who are serious about keeping their children healthy by selectively vaccinating, or choosing not to vaccinate all together, have made this a whole lifestyle choice. They feed their children a lot of homemade mostly organic foods. They make sure they eat a plethora of fruits and vegetables and use immune boosting supplements. The next time you hear of a horror story of a sick child, try to find out as much as you can about the type of diet they had instead of pointing just to the fact they were not vaccinated against the flu...or whatever else.
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9-26-2010 @ 8:22PM
Natalie said...Thank you Ben for your comments. So much more goes into health that vaccinating or not vaccinating. Most children's immune systems are so compromised by all the processed foods and chemicals they are exposed to. Just washing hands isn't enough. The flu vaccine may not cause the flu, but when you get any vaccine it suppresses the immune system at first before the vaccine supposedly "does it's job." That's not a unknown fact. I keep my children as healthy as I can through chiropractic care, essential oils and a healthy diet so I don't have to inject them with chemical upon chemical. I also take offense to those who call me "freaky" for not vaccinating my children. I am an highly educated women who does what it takes to keep her children healthy. I"ve done my research and have made an informed CHOICE. We as parents do our best for the well-being of our children. No one intentionally set out to harm them...what kind of parents would we be if that was the case? But also who are we to judge what others do for their families? I think we can all agree to disagree on this subject. Just an aside...the govt. and big companies don't always look out for the best interest of the consumer..just look at big tobacco as the #1 example...profits before people!