Swine Flu Seizures in Children Reported in U.S. (Update1)

By Elizabeth Lopatto

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu caused seizures in two Texas children and hallucinations, difficulty standing and slowed speech in two others, say U.S. health officials who advised quick treatment with antiviral medicine in such cases.

Two patients, a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old, were described as having seizures, according to the report from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children aged 11 and 17 exhibited the other symptoms. The cases, which occurred from May 13 to May 26, were reported today in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

This is the first evidence of potential seizures or other neurological symptoms from swine flu, also called H1N1, the report said. Seasonal flu can also cause neurological complications such as personality changes, loss of concentration, involuntary eye movements and impairment of cognitive function, according to an editorial accompanying the report.

“This is not to say that neurological side effects are very common or will be common,” said Tim Uyeki, a study author and flu epidemiologist at the CDC, in a telephone interview today. “It’s to alert people to the fact that these complications can occur with H1N1 infections.”

Choosing Treatment

Such warnings may prevent doctors from giving patients the wrong medications for the neurological symptoms, Uyeki said. One kind of neurological illness, encephalitis, has multiple causes, so doctors should be aware that the brain dysfunction may be linked to swine flu to choose proper treatment, he said.

About 5 percent of childhood encephalitis arises from seasonal influenza, the authors wrote. The cases in swine flu patients appear to be less serious than similar cases from seasonal flu, the researchers wrote.

Swine flu, which causes mostly mild illness, has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in June, the first since 1968. This is the fourth time in the last century a new flu virus has swept across the globe.

The pandemic, also called H1N1, has spread across the world faster than any previous influenza outbreak, and its full force may reach the U.S. earlier than the typical flu season, the CDC has said. England and Wales are suffering the worst rates of flu in a decade, even though the typical flu season in that region doesn’t start for several months.

Companies including Novartis AG, Sanofi-Aventis SA and CSL Ltd. are racing to produce a flu vaccine by mid-October, when cases are expected to soar in the Northern Hemisphere, fueled by cooler temperatures and kids returning to the close quarters of classrooms.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 23, 2009 15:07 EDT