Six-year-old Berri boy with flu dies suddenly

A six-year-old boy with influenza has died at his Berri home after being sent home from hospital just days before his death.

A young Riverland boy with influenza has died after being sent home from hospital in the days before his death.

The six-year-old boy died at his Berri home on Friday morning after being sick with the flu for about a week.

The Advertiser understands he had visited a GP for treatment and was sent home from Riverland General Hospital after his family was told he was well enough to return home.

It is unknown if the boy was vaccinated against the flu.

The boy’s family is involved with local sporting organisations the Berri Football Club and the Berri River Rangers soccer club.

The Berri Football Club’s teams wore black armbands on Saturday to honour the young boy.

The boy played Auskick at the Berri Football Club.

“The Berri Football Club offers our deepest sympathies to the family and those involved with the family,” Berri Football Club president Ron Foulds said.

“It’s a tragic loss for the Berri Football Club community and the Berri community as a whole.”

The boy was sent home from Riverland General Hospital at Berri.

Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network spokeswoman said the boy’s death was a “tragic loss for the family and community”.

“We have conducted an initial review of the care provided and are confident appropriate diagnostic and medical care was given in line with best practice,” the spokeswoman said.

“The child’s medical records have been provided to the Coroner and we will assist in any way we can.”

SA Health could not comment on the boy’s cause of death as it was still under investigation by the coroner.

The boy’s family declined to comment on his death.

In the year to August 5 there had been nine deaths from influenza in South Australia and 1044 cases requiring hospital admissions in what is looming as a relatively severe year for the disease.

There had been 11,816 cases reported so far this year, compared to 10,625 cases for the same period last year.

Of these notifications, 6119 cases were in females and 5697 were in males, in an age range of 0 to 105 and a median age of 17.

There have been nine outbreaks reported in aged care facilities.

The 11,816 cases so far this year compares to just 16 at the same time in 2021 when there was 40 for the entire year — when Covid restrictions on international travel and stricter adherence to hygiene protocols and social distancing had a huge impact on infectious disease transmission.

SA’s most severe flu year in recent times was 2019 when there were 27,093 cases officially recorded and 120 deaths.

The Opposition has called on the state government to follow Queensland and make flu vaccines free for everyone, however Health Minister Chris Picton says the government is following expert advice in providing it free only for “at-risk groups”.

The flu vaccine is free this year for about 600,000 South Australians, including children under five, adults over 65, pregnant women, all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people with pre-existing health conditions.