KMPH Fox 26 Central San Joaquin Valley News Source in Fresno, California Entertainment, News, Sports and Weather | Kings County Boy with H1N1 Dies

Kings County Boy with H1N1 Dies

By Norma Yuriar

Kings County, Calif. (KMPH News) - A first grader within the Kings County School District is the first child in the area to die of the H1N1 flu virus, the Department of Public Health announced on Monday.

Adam Guzman of Hanford fears the victim may be the son of someone he works with.

"One of our co-worker's son was really sick and they had to take him to [Children's Hospital Central California] because they believed he had H1N1," Guzman said.

The Kings County Health Department is not identifying the boy or the school he attended.  Dr. Michael Mac Lean said the victim had other medical problems that interfered with his ability to fight off the H1N1 infection.

"This child is very typical of people who are at high risk of having complicated influenza," Dr. Mac Lean said.  "This child had a significant underlying medical conditions prior to him getting infected."

Dr. Michael said the little boy died Sunday and wanted to assure parents the first grader did not come in contact with other students at his school after he was diagnosed.

"I don't know how he got infected.  There is a lot of transmission of H1N1 throughout the state, I have reason to think there is quite a bit of transmission going on in this County and I don't think Fresno or anyplace else is being spared," Mac Lean said.

Fresno County has had nine H1N1 deaths. One of them was a nine year-old and an infant less than 1 year old, Fresno County Health officials said Monday.

Guzman said he'd like to get his kids vaccinated as soon as possible.

"A lot of kids are getting infected, it does go through my mind especially with my kids going to school and being around a lot of kids if they do contract the H1N1," said Guzman.  "It's a little stressful."

The biggest challenge facing the Kings County Health Department is there is not enough of the vaccine to go around.  To date, Kings County has only received 1,600 doses of the H1N1 nasal formula.

The shortage has some south valley parents asking why.

"I don't understand, especially since a 6 year old just passed away," said Guzman."

According to Dr. Mac Lean, the department only has enough vaccine to treat healthy two year olds because they are the most venerable, everyone else will have to wait until November when an additional 24,000 doses are expected to arrive in Kings County.

The Kings County Health Department in Hanford is making the vaccine available for free, on a walk-in basis, 8:00am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday.  People can call 1-800-649-5399 for more information.