Children of world hit hard by flu

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Health officials in the United States and abroad said yesterday that very young children might be at increased risk from this year's flu virus -- the Fujian H3N2 strain -- which has hit earlier and harder than any flu strain in 30 years.

"It does seem to be affecting children more than old people," said Lynnette Brammer, an epidemiologist with the influenza branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, yesterday.

She said it was not clear whether the flu strain soon would begin attacking older people, the most common flu victims in normal years.

"Everyone has the sense that this is different. We are working to get the answers. We are concerned, and we are trying to get a handle on what is going on. But we don't know," she said.

Millions of cases of influenza, or flu, have been reported in Europe and across the United States, already killing at least seven children in Britain and five in Colorado.

Doctors in Maryland and Virginia say they have seen a few cases of flu, but the Mid-Atlantic region has not been hit as hard as other areas.

"I've given a lot of shots. I have not seen any cases yet, but I will," said Dr. Villamore Reyes of Cheverly.

Because of mild winters in the past few years, young children have been less exposed to an influenza virus, according to Dr. Klaus Stor, head of the World Health Organization's (WHO) influenza program. "They are immunologically naive, unprotected," he said yesterday in Geneva.

He said flu epidemics usually begin with children and then advance to the adult population two to three weeks after schools begin reporting absences. Historically, 95 percent of the 36,000 Americans who die from the flu each year are 65 and older.