By Mike Clary and Bob Lamendola
The Orlando Sentinel
MIAMI— A 9-year-old-boy from Miami has become the first person in the state to die from the H1N1 swine flu, state and local health officials said Tuesday.
The boy, who was not identified, died June 9 within 24 hours of being rushed to Baptist Hospital in the Kendall area, Miami-Dade County Health Department officials said.
“It’s very unfortunate we had this death here in Miami,” said Dr. Fermin Leguen, the department’s medical executive director and chief of epidemiology.
The boy had a history of asthma and developed acute respiratory illness from the virus, said Leguen, the department’s medical executive director and chief of epidemiology.
Nationwide, children and adults with asthma and other lung ailments have been particularly susceptible to the new H1N1 flu virus.
The boy first began showing flu symptoms about nine days ago. He got worse quickly, and was in such distress that his parents called 911. An ambulance rushed him to the hospital in critical condition. He arrived having a heart attack, the hospital said.
Lab results confirming that the boy had H1N1 swine flu came back over the weekend.
Leguen would not confirm whether the boy lived near Baptist, where he went to school or any personal details, citing the family’s privacy. The hospital declined to comment other than a brief statement.
Leguen held a news conference at a Little Haiti clinic but said that was only because that’s where he works on Tuesdays.
No other flu infections have been linked to the boy, and the family has no history of travel, Leguen said.
The boy was in school about four days before he developed symptoms, but Leguen said there was no danger to the public.
The boy is among 417 cases of the new virus that have been confirmed in the state at last count Friday. The large majority of cases have been mild and have not required the patients to be hospitalized, Florida Department of Health officials said.
Since the H1N1 first appeared in Mexico in April, Florida’s outbreak has been relatively mild compared with the rest of the nation.
The flu has stricken 17,855 Americans with 45 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Compared with other major flu outbreaks, this H1N1 strain has been mild. Relatively few people have been hospitalized. It has stricken younger, healthier people, unlike regular flu strains that tend to strike more in older people. Health officials are not yet sure why.
Leguen urged people to take the oft-repeated standard ways to prevent the flu from spreading: Wash hands often, cover coughs and sneezes, avoid people who are sick, stay home when sick and consult a doctor if necessary.
“People shouldn’t panic. When we look at the behavior of this virus, the presentation has been very mild in most of these cases,” Leguen said. “People should be cautious but [do] the same things they should do every year with influenza.”
Copyright 2009 Sentinel Communications Co.