Doctors have issued a pressing warning for parents, after a healthy and happy Perth toddler became the youngest person in Western Australia to die from the flu this year.
Muhammed Saadiq Segaff is being remembered as a cheerful but cheeky little boy, after losing his life to influenza A, a strain of the flu virus.
The three-year-old’s health rapidly deteriorated at Fiona Stanley Hospital – located about 16 km west of the state’s capital – where the toddler went from having difficulty breathing to a cardiac arrest.
Consequently, he underwent open heart surgery before being transported to Perth’s Children Hospital with doctors and nurses using a machine to keep Muhammed’s blood pumping during the transfer
But despite their best efforts, the little boy’s life couldn’t be saved, with his parents making the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support on May 26 after his family flew in from Singapore to say their goodbyes.
Muhammed’s death makes him the youngest Western Australian to die from the flu this year.
While influenza is a common virus it can be deadly in high risk groups, with the virus attacking the lungs, nose and throat.
Symptoms typically include fever, chills, muscle aches, headaches and fatigue, with most fit and healthy people able to overcome them without seeing a doctor.
However young children, senior adults and pregnant women as well as unhealthy adults have a higher chance of experiencing more severe cases as their immunity is compromised.
Doctors say the best way to prepare yourself for the flu is to get an annual flu shot, however a worrying trend shows that the uptake of flu vaccines in WA this year is slower than usual.
“We have a significant and effective prevention strategy for flu, it’s a flu vaccine,” Perth Children’s Hospital infectious diseases specialist Chris Blyth told 7 News.
However, fewer than 14 per cent of children under five have received the vaccination in the state, with that figure slimmer for those aged between five and 15-years-old.
Dr Blyth said about 10 per cent of children who are admitted into hospital with the flu require intensive care treatment.
Parents should also monitor children for unusual symptoms associated with the flu such as fast breathing and breathlessness, which Dr Bylth said can impact the brain.
“Confusion or drowsiness is another important sign. Both of those things would make me want to seek medical advice,” he said.
“In the middle of winter, our hospitals are full of people with respiratory illnesses but if parents think their child is much sicker than they normally are they should be seeking advice.”
Muhammed’s parents hope that by sharing their son’s tragic story, more parents will consider vaccinating their children against the virus each year.
“No parents want this to happen to their own children,” Muhammed’s mother Shikin Hasnawi told 7 News.
“We just miss him so much,” his father Segaff Sinin added.
The state government has extended its free flu vaccine rollout to children and seniors until the end of June in a bid to encourage further uptake in the jab.