SWINE FLU

Gary Reaves reports.

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The Dallas health department estimates some 600,000 children are currently out of school with some type of flu.

While they stress the virus is relatively mild, six people have died from it, in North Texas.

One of them was 14-year-old Chloe Lindsay.

Doctors didn't give her Tamiflu because she didn't fit in the CDC's guidelines for needing it.

Her death has many parents asking what to do if their healthy child gets sick.

It's relatively easy for doctors to tell parents not to worry. After all, almost every child will recover from the flu.

But we've already seen three local children die - two of them were otherwise healthy.

That makes it critical that parents know what signs to watch for which could mean a child is in trouble.

When Laura Pasley first took her daughter's temperature on Sunday, it was 102.

She had all the symptoms of the flu, so they spent the rest of the day, in a hospital emergency room.

"They pressed around on her and told me she was a healthy young lady and she would get through it," said Pasley.

The next day they tried a different hospital, with the same result.

Then they came home and saw on TV a report of the death of a Fort Worth teenager from swine flu.

It left Tara Pasley in tears.

"That could be me... because the doctors told her the same thing they told my mom," she said.

Experts say 99.7 percent of people who get swine flu will recover.

But in rare cases, the flu itself is strong enough to kill, or to trigger a fatal infection like pneumonia.

So how can you tell when the flu is turning dangerous?

WFAA-TV

Tara Pasley.

"If a child is having difficulty breathing that does need an emergency department visit. If the fever keeps getting worse, even with Tylenol, it's something to consider going to the emergency department," said Dallas County Health Director John Carlo.

"I got up every three hours last night and tested her temperature," said Laura Pasley.

Though scared and frustrated, she kept following the advice, and yesterday her daughter's fever broke.

You should take a flu patient to the hospital if the following applies:

•Fast breathing or trouble breathing.

•Bluish or gray skin color.

•The patient is not drinking enough fluids.

•Severe or persistent vomiting.

•Not waking up or not interacting.

•The child being so irritable that he or she does not want to be held.

•Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough.

•If the patient has other conditions (like heart or lung disease, diabetes or asthma) and develops flu-like symptoms, including a fever and/or cough.

E-mail greaves@wfaa.com.