Toddler's death 'should not alarm parents'

2 Jul 2009, 4:18 pm   -   Source: AAP
Share This

Parents of young children should not be unduly alarmed following the death of a Victorian three-year-old boy with swine flu, federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says.

RELATED

Parents of young children should not be unduly alarmed following the death of a Victorian three-year-old boy with swine flu, federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says.

Ms Roxon says swine flu remains mild for the majority of people and they recover without medical intervention.

The boy died in his Doveton home in Melbourne's southeast on June 26 but his death was only announced yesterday. He is the first child with swine flu to die in Australia.

Ms Roxon refused to say if the toddler had underlying medical issues, saying the case is now in the hands of police and the coroner. "The death of any child is a tragedy," Ms Roxon said.

"There are police and coronial inquiries being undertaken and it is simply not appropriate for me to make any comment on the case. "I want to assure people that they should not be unduly alarmed.

"This is a serious disease and it can be severe in some people but it is mild overall for most people."

So far 10 people in Australia - seven from Victoria - have died while suffering from swine flu. Ms Roxon said the disease has "a preference for young healthy people".

She said the risk factors remained underlying chronic diseases, such as obesity and respiratory problems.

"Children can have those diseases - they can have asthma and diabetes," she said.

"The very young haven't been flagged as particularly at risk although the very young and very old are always at risk from seasonal flus and again can be vulnerable to this type of disease."

Victorian Premier John Brumby says the death of the young boy is distressing and should act as a warning to families as winter arrives in Australia's southern states. "It's obviously distressing when you have the loss of the life of a young child," he told reporters at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Darwin.

"In relation to this case, there are some particular circumstances and it's a matter that's being investigated by the coroner and Victoria Police."

Mr Brumby said H1N1 appeared to be "relatively mild" and there was "no cause for alarm".

A leading disease expert believes that twice as many children will die of swine flu as from regular influenza, in the next 12 months. But Professor Robert Booy says the death tally will still be fairly small - around 10 or 12 per year.

Three to six children die every year from regular influenza, he says. "It (death from swine flu) can occur in a healthy child although most of them we believe will occur in a child with a problem, say a chronic heart problem, long-standing lung, kidney, liver (problems) or diabetes," Prof Booy, from Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney, told ABC Radio.

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube