The message of this study is stark: If you have a child with H1N1 symptoms, that child needs prompt treatment.

The full story quotes an expert,  Dr. Fernando Pollack of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

He told the news service that,”We cannot chase this disease from behind. Once it gets going, it is very difficult to treat. All our fatal cases had not been treated within 48 hours of the development of symptoms,” he said. (Emphasis added)

The antiviral drugs available have been proven effective, according to the CDC which has monitored them closely, but they effective when they are started as soon as symptoms appear— but, as noted above, at least within 48 hours.

Reuters

“BOSTON (Reuters) – H1N1 swine flu can kill children at a much higher rate than seasonal flu, and the elevated risk for pregnant women extends as long as two weeks after they give birth, researchers reported on Wednesday.

“Swine Flu

“The findings show that the H1N1 pandemic, while overall no more deadly than seasonal flu, is capable of hitting vulnerable women and children far harder than regular flu usually does. (Emphasis added)

“Pediatric 2009 H1N1 influenza was associated with pediatric death rates that were 10 times the rates for seasonal influenza than in previous years,” Dr. Romina Libster of Hospital Posadas in Buenos Aires and colleagues wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Emphasis added)

Source: Reuters, December 23, 2009

Citation:Published at www.nejm.org December 23, 2009 (10.1056/NEJMoa0907673)