Third child's death wasn't from flu, health officials say

Public health officials are offering free flu vaccinations today and Monday, acknowledging public alarm after the death Saturday of a 7-year-old Bellevue boy who had been diagnosed with the flu earlier in the week.

But it was not the flu that killed Luke Deasy. The King County Medical Examiner ruled the primary cause of the boy's death was a bacterial infection of the pericardium, a saclike membrane surrounding the heart.

Two grade-school students in King County have died from complications from the flu — one last week and one the previous week.

Marija Alumbaugh, 8, of Seattle, and Sarah Horner, 7, of Kent, both developed an inflammation of the heart called myocarditis — a different inflammation from Deasy's. Both girls were infected with influenza A, the most common type of flu virus circulating in King County and across the nation.

Officials at Public Health — Seattle & King County say Deasy's physician diagnosed an influenza infection last week, and that the virus could have aggravated a pre-existing heart condition or weakened the boy's immune response to the bacterial infection.

"Flu is not the cause of death," said Dr. Jeff Duchin, chief of the health department's communicable-disease section. "Whether or not flu had a role in this death we'll never know for sure."

Duchin said there is no link among the three cases.

Special flu vaccination clinics


In response to heightened public concern about the flu virus that has killed two local children, Public Health — Seattle & King County is offering free influenza vaccinations this holiday weekend.

Auburn Today, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Auburn Public Health Center, 20 Auburn Ave. S.E.

Seattle Today, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at North Public Health Center, 10501 Meridian Ave. N.

Bellevue Monday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Eastgate Public Health Center, 14350 S.E. Eastgate Way.

More information: www.metrokc.gov/health or call 206-296-4949, press 2, then 3.

Source: Public Health — Seattle & King County

The health department's own testing of Deasy initially detected no influenza virus, Duchin said, but it is doing more tests and believes the boy may have had an influenza infection based on the physician's diagnosis.

Specimens are being shipped to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to identify the subtype of influenza virus. The department also is waiting to hear from the CDC what subtype the girls had.

Nearly all influenza patient specimens sent to the CDC from laboratories across the country this year are similar to the strain against which the influenza vaccine grants protection, according to the agency's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The health department is sponsoring special influenza vaccination clinics from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today in Seattle and Auburn, and Monday in Bellevue.

"If people haven't been immunized, this is a good time to do so," Duchin said.

The department recommends the vaccine for all children 2 months to 5 years old, as well as other high-risk groups, such as seniors and those with chronic health conditions, and their family members. The health department says the majority of children who suffer severe complications or die from flu are not vaccinated.

It takes one to two weeks for the flu vaccine to fully take effect.

Up until this month, King County had not recorded a flu-related death in children for seven years. According to Duchin, death-certificate data from the Washington State Center for Health Statistics show at least two King County flu-related pediatric deaths every year from 1996 to 1999. In 1998, there were three children whose death certificates showed influenza either as the direct cause of death or a potential contributor, he said.

"There's no rhyme or reason to the pattern," Duchin said.

Nationally, 13 children have died from flu so far this season, not including the two recent deaths in King County.

Citing patient confidentiality, health officials aren't saying whether the two girls with flulike symptoms who died recently had been vaccinated.

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com. Times staff reporters Dominic Gates and Christine Willmsen contributed to this report.