By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

CASSVILLE, Mo. — A 7-year-old Barry County girl could be the eighth person in Missouri to have died of complications from the H1N1 influenza virus.

Kathleen King, director of the Barry County Health Department, said the girl had underlying medical problems when she became ill in late October. She died Nov. 10 at a Springfield hospital of influenza-related complications.

“Losing anyone is tragic, but the death of a child is especially heart wrenching,” King said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.”

King said Barry County, like other Missouri counties, is seeing a steady stream of influenza cases.

“We know it is everywhere now,” she said. “But we are not seeing an increase in cases at this time. It’s been pretty steady.”

Schools in Shell Knob and Exeter recently have closed for three to four days because so many students have been ill with flulike symptoms, but those schools, she said, have “small populations. It does not take much to close them.”

A test at the hospital showed that the 7-year-old girl tested positive for Type A influenza. H1N1 is a Type A influenza. Health officials say H1N1 is virtually the only Type A flu strain circulating at this time.

Kit Wagar, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, said in a telephone interview Monday: “We are counting the H1N1 deaths in Missouri, and we have had seven, so far.

“We learned of the Barry County girl late last week. She could be the eighth if her death certificate shows the flu was a significant factor in the death.”

Wagar said there is some evidence that the seasonal flu is becoming more active, but tests continue to show that more than 90 percent of the Type A cases are coming back as positive for H1N1.

Tests for the week ending Nov. 7 showed that 19,425 Missouri residents had confirmed cases of Type A influenza since Oct. 4, he said. In that same period, there were 283 confirmed cases of Type B influenza. There were 1,869 cases in which the type was not determined.

“We had a big wave that peaked in mid-October,” Wagar said. “It’s been on a downward trend across the state since Oct. 26. We’re in a trough now, but we’re expecting another wave. That’s what has happened elsewhere with this virus. It has come in waves.”

Wagar said that in mid-October, one of every eight emergency room visits in Missouri was related to a flulike illness. The rate has gone down since then, but it’s still twice as high as normal, he said.