CORCORAN, Minn. -- As Minnesota reported its seventh death from swine flu complications Monday, a few hundred doctors and nurses began receiving the first doses of the vaccine health officials hope will slow the flu's spread through the state.
The latest death was 6-year-old Nathan D. Schilling, who died Sept. 24 in an ambulance outside his house, the Hennepin County medical examiner's office reported. He had no underlying health issues.
Rev. Steven Briel, the family's pastor at St. John's Evangelical Church in Corcoran, said the family told him Nathan had been hospitalized with the flu but was recovering and had been sent home shortly before he died.
"He's in Heaven with Jesus, and that's their comfort and hope," Briel said of the family.
Nathan was a first-grader in the church's school. Briel said the school is taking more precautions to prevent the spread of the swine flu, but has no plans to close.
"Our hearts go out to the family," Dr. Sanne Magnan, the state health commissioner, said in a statement announcing the death. "For most people, the H1N1 flu is not severe; however, we know that children are especially vulnerable to this new virus."
State epidemiologist Dr. Ruth Lynfield said the health department would investigate the death, which the medical examiner's office said resulted from an inflammation of the heart muscle and was tied to the flu.
"This is something that we're going to investigate a little more thoroughly, but because we do know that rarely it can happen with influenza, that's what most likely happened in this situation," Lynfield said.
Lynfield said Nathan's death should not be seen as evidence that H1N1 has turned into a deadlier virus because any flu, ... including seasonal flu, can cause people without underlying conditions can become gravely ill.
"People need to keep it in context," Lynfield said. "Most people will recover without complications."
Minnesota has recorded 327 hospitalized cases of swine flu. Of those, 138 were children under the age of 9, according to the Health Department.
Until the swine flu vaccine becomes widely available, health officials said Minnesotans should continue to take basic precautions, including frequent hand washing, covering coughs with a sleeve and making sure people who are ill with flu-like symptoms stay home.
The state ordered 28,000 doses of the flu vaccine last week. The first doses arrived at various health care institutions a day ahead of schedule.
"It is a package to this facility and a package to that facility," said Health Department spokesman Doug Schultz.
The Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses of Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota received 1,000 doses of the nasal spray, said Patsy Stinchfield, director of the group's infectious disease division.
She said the medical staff in the group's clinics and emergency departments received their vaccinations Monday. "We are going with the front door of the hospital, if you will," she said.
The group will vaccinate more of its medical staff and other employees as it gets more vaccine, she said.
She said the swine flu outbreak has sickened a few staff members and taxed the group's resources, but "by no means are we overwhelmed," she said.
All the state's initial vaccine doses are earmarked for health care and emergency medical workers, which officials hope will ensure that the health care system is functioning when others get sick.
State health officials were not releasing the names of the institutions that received the vaccines for security reasons. Spokesman Buddy Ferguson said doing so could disrupt the smooth distribution of the vaccine.
However, Schultz said he expects the shipments will continue arriving in the state for the next few days. "I don't think all 28,000 doses are here yet," he said.
The initial doses of vaccine in the state are in the form of a nasal mist, which is only for use in healthy people ages 2 to 49 who aren't pregnant and have no underlying conditions. It's made of live but weakened flu virus.
State health officials said they expect flu shots, made of killed flu virus, will be available in a few weeks. Eventually, they expect there to be enough flu vaccine for everyone who wants it.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
