FLU SYMPTOMS TURN DEADLY

Rachel and Michael Sweet have taken steps to keep other parents from having to endure the loss of a child the way they did.

"I'm telling other parents that they should get the vaccinations updated and to take their child to the hospital if they're not sure what's wrong," Rachel Sweet said, four days after losing her 13-year-old son, Michael, to HIB meningitis.

"It seemed like it was just the flu, but Mikey lay there for three days and we couldn't tell what was wrong," she said.

Rachel Sweet said their daughter, Kristie, experienced the same flu-like symptoms as her older brother, but "she came out of it, but Mikey didn't."

The Sweets, who live in Cape Girardeau, have elected to donate Michael's body to science to determine why his immune system failed to conquer a bacteria called haemophilus influenza type B. He is the first child in the state to have such research done on him.

The family has also elected to donate his heart to a child in Wyoming.

"It was a tough decision that had to be made in two days, but if we could save another life we felt it would be worth it," Rachel Sweet said. "It seems like just yesterday I was looking out the window watching Mikey play football."

Vicki McDowell of the Cape Girardeau County Health Department said she hasn't seen a similar case of HIB meningitis in her nine-year tenure with the department.

She said the symptoms start out like the flu but soon develop into something "more invasive." The bacteria invade the fluid that "bathes the brain" and can become fatal.

"The incubation period for the bacteria is 2 to 4 days," McDowell said. "As far as whose immune system can beat this, it's hard to say. It just depends on the person."

McDowell and Pam Jokerst, infection control coordinator at Southeast Hospital, recommend calling a doctor or taking the child to the emergency room if such flu-like symptoms persist for more than 24 hours.

McDowell said HIB meningitis is usually contracted by children under age 5. A vaccine is routinely administered to children 3 to 4 months old when nausea, vomiting and high fever become manifest.

Jokerst said HIB meningitis is actually a common type. However, she hasn't seen the disease in Cape Girardeau County since she began working at Southeast in 1987.

"We've seen this in smaller children," Jokerst said. "As children get older, usually their immune system kicks in and they are able to beat it."

Jo Peukert, who taught Michael Sweet at May Greene School, said she will never forget the heart-shaped earrings he gave her one Christmas.

"He knew that my ears were pierced and that I had a heart-shaped necklace," she said. "Not a lot of children would have noticed that. But that was Michael. He was a sensitive young man with a heart of gold."

A memorial service will be held for Michael Sweet today at 2:45 p.m. at the Evangelical United Church of Christ, 2027 Independence.