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Children's Hospital Well Prepared For Flu Pandemic

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Aug 12, 2008 10:01 pm US/Mountain

Children's Hospital Well Prepared For Flu Pandemic

Written by CBS4 special projects producer Vicki Hildner, vhildner@cbs.com

Reporting
Karen Leigh
DENVER (CBS4) ― One hundred years ago this summer, The Children's Hospital began in a converted house with 30 beds. Within 10 years the hospital had expanded in downtown Denver, just in time for the flu pandemic of 1918 and 1919.

At that time, physicians did not realize that influenza was caused by a virus. But they did realize it was spread from person to person and they tried everything they could to try to stop it.

Nonetheless, on Oct. 18, 1918, the Rocky Mountain News reported 20 deaths in just the previous day. Those deaths were attributed to what journalists called "the plague."

If one were to visit The Children's Hospital during the height of the plague in 1918, Pediatric Infectious Disease specialist Dr. Chris Nyquist says "We would have seen a lot of children that were cordoned off to one area. Nurses and doctors would be wearing masks and washing their hands, which is very much what we would see today."

Today, an annual vaccine can protect many children from getting the flu.

Nyquist pointed out that the Centers for Disease Control now recommends a flu vaccine for all children up to age 18.

Little Blake Ferguson was only 6 weeks old -- not old enough for the vaccine -- when he suddenly developed a chronic cough last Spring. His mother, Laura, knew that something was not right, but when his lips turned blue she rushed him to the pediatrician.

"In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but wonder if my baby was going to die," she remembered.

Blake spent four days at Children's Hospital and has made a full recovery. His parents now believe he caught the flu from a sibling. He has four brothers and sisters and none had been vaccinated last year.

Should the 21st century bring another flu pandemic, the new Children's Hospital is ready with a special floor designed to quarantine sick children.

The ninth floor has doors that can cut the ward off from the rest of the hospital. All the air in the hospital rooms goes directly outside and does not circulate within the hospital. Sick children would be isolated and contained in the separate ward.

Blake's family doesn't plan to see the inside of the ninth floor this year.

"We're not going to miss our flu shots this year," Laura Ferguson said.

Nyquist stresses that the best treatment for flu is prevention. The Children's Hospital offers flu vaccines to its clinic patients and inpatients, as well as their families.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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