In a previous blog, I wrote about the growing percentage of children who die from the flu who were co-infected with MRSA, the superbug staph infection that’s resistant to antibiotics. I see that The Boston Globe has now written a story about that. In Massachusetts, two of the four children who died from the flu this winter also had MRSA. The story includes a nice graph that shows the increasing co-existance of MRSA in pediatric flu deaths. And to me, it indicates how little health officials really know about this.

There’s little question the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is taking it seriously — they’re asking states to start tracking data on it, and will begin recommending the flu shot for all age children next year. But the federal agency also points out in a Q & A that the overall risk of developing a MRSA infection after getting the flu “appears to be low.” Indeed, only 74 children died of the flue this winter, 22 of them had a staph infection, and 15 of those were MRSA, the superbug.

Washington state also had at least one death this winter in which the 20-year-old Western Washington University student had both the flu and MRSA, but that death would not have been included in the pediatric flu deaths, since he was older than 18. The Seattle Times reported about that case in February.

I should note that I didn’t explore this topic as an article only because it doesn’t relate to a local incident. I’m hoping I won’t have to in the future, either.