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Doctors Fear Flu-Superbug Combo
Mix kills 2 kids in Boston after taking 22 lives last year
By Kevin Spak
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Posted Apr 26, 08 6:51 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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Doctors nationwide took notice yesterday when two Boston kids died of a combined flu and fatal superbug—an increasingly common mix, ABC News reports. The blend of influenza and the staph infection MRSA killed 22 people last year, a huge jump from three cases the year before. Now, doctors fear a wave of co-infections may be upon us.
Infuenza and MRSA have a history of working together. “This is what happened in the influenza pandemic in 1957,” one doctor said. “Otherwise healthy individuals were felled with substantial morbidity and mortality.” Flu vaccinations can guard against the problem, but doctors say only about a third of US kids get their shots each year.