Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

Health authorities have detected the emergence of a rare but deadly “lung-eating” form of pneumonia sparked by the combination of a skin infection and the common flu.

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 22 deaths among children in 2007 from the dual infection.

Numbers from the 2007-to-2008 flu season won’t be released until October, but officials say that deaths have increased. The CDC has just begun tracking cases among all age groups.

The number of fatalities, while low, is a sharp increase from previous years, and infectious disease experts worry that an ongoing epidemic of skin infections could drive the numbers higher.

The double infection has appeared before: It was the leading cause of bacterial pneumonia deaths during the 1957-1958 flu pandemic, which killed 2 million people worldwide and about 70,000 people in the United States.

This time, health authorities are putting out a call for people to get a simple annual flu vaccine to protect themselves.

The main culprit is a particular strain of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus.

An antibiotic-resistant strain known as “methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus,” or MRSA, has been a known killer since it emerged in hospitals in the 1960s, preying on elderly and frail patients.

But in the last decade, a new, more virulent strain has emerged outside of hospitals, causing an explosion in severe skin infections.

The community strain is not as resistant to antibiotics as the hospital strain and many drugs are still effective. What makes it so lethal is the toxins it produces.

Flu makes it easier for bacteria in the nose or throat to reach the lungs by stripping the respiratory tract of the coating that filters out bacteria. It also may keep the immune system too tied up to respond to a second invasion.

Besides a flu shot, Dr. Lynn Finelli, head of influenza surveillance for the CDC, said frequent hand washing and other basic hygiene can help.