The first child to die in Iowa due to complications from H1N1 was reported Tuesday by the Iowa Department of Public Health, or IDPH.

Polly Carver-Kimm, a spokeswoman for the IDPH, said the child, who lived in eastern Iowa, died in October and had factors that increased the risk of complications from H1N1.

The child's age and hometown were not being released because of the risk of identifying the child, she said.

IDPH Director Dr. Patricia Quinlisk said there are certain conditions that put both children and adults at greater risk of complications from H1N1.

"Asthma, cardiac disease, metabolic diseases such as diabetes and neuromuscular disorders such as muscular dystrophy increase the risk of complications from H1N1," Quinlisk said.

Parents of children less than 2 years old or children with risk factors may want to talk with their physicians about antiviral medications, she said. Antiviral medications help the body fight the disease. Adults with risk factors may want to do the same.

"Most people will not need that," Quinlisk said.

"We have to remember that there are perfectly healthy children and adults who are getting this and dying," she said. "There is serious illness and death in all age groups. The highest rates of death are people 25-45. Part of that is that they are parents of children.

"But we don't want people to get paranoid about this," she added. "We have people get sick and die of seasonal flu every year."

Most people will do just fine without any antiviral medications, she said. The disease will run its course and be gone.

Quinlisk encouraged handwashing and wiping down of workplaces. She also said anyone coming to work ill should be sent home.

"People at higher risk of complications need to be more careful about going to places where the public gathers, for instance," she said.

Older people, 60-65, seem for some reason, to have an innate immunity to the disease, Quinlisk said. "They don't quite know why. They're not as likely to get ill. But once they get ill they are at high risk of having complications."

According to Quinlisk, symptoms of H1N1 in children include:

n Fast breathing or trouble breathing

n Bluish or gray skin color

n Not drinking enough fluids

n Severe or persistent vomiting

n Not waking up or not interacting with people and things around them

n Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held

n Flu-like symptoms improve, then return with fever and a worse cough

The last of those, Quinlisk said, "can be a sign of a secondary infection, such as bacterial pneumonia or something along those lines."

Any child who exhibits any of those symptoms should see a doctor immediately, she said.