Four children died in UNM Hospital's Emergency Room over the weekend, and at least one of the cases is being investigated as a possible flu death, a spokeswoman from the New Mexico Department of Health said Monday.
"It's still too early to tell" if the child died from influenza, Health Department spokeswoman Beth Velasquez said. "It might turn out that that's the case, but we'll just have to see."
A UNM Hospital spokesman would not provide the children's names or ages and declined to comment on the deaths.
Investigators from the hospital and Health Department used a rapid flu test, and the Office of the Medical Investigator performed autopsies to determine whether the virus killed the children, Velasquez said.
The rapid flu test uses a throat swab, and results can be read in one hour. The test detects the virus enzyme, neuroaminidase, and can indicate the presence of influenza as soon as 24 hours before the onset of symptoms.
Two of the deaths, Velasquez said, have been attributed to trauma. She could not say what kind of trauma killed the children, but in one case, a flu test came back negative, and in another, an autopsy showed that influenza was not the culprit.
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As of Monday morning, the state Health Department had received about 115 reports of the flu, Velasquez said.
"But that number is sure to go up when some of the labs report from over the holidays," she said.
The flu has not caused any deaths this year in New Mexico, Velasquez said. But the Health Department is also investigating possible flu connections in the death of a 55-year-old individual in Raton and a 3-year-old who died at home over the weekend and was then taken to Presbyterian Hospital.
