IT WAS the first time they were taking their 13-month-old son, Joshiah Isaac Barros (above), to Hong Kong on holiday.

Mr Allan Barros and his wife wanted to show their son to friends and former colleagues in Hong Kong during the November trip.

But their friends never got to see the cheerful toddler.

He fell ill, and a week later, they got a phone call from the couple saying he had died.

Now, Mr Barros believes his son died of the same killer bug that claimed the lives of three children in Hong Kong's recent flu scare.

Mr Barros had taken all the necessary precautions before their holiday. He had taken his family for a check-up at their family doctor and got his baby boy vaccinated against the flu.

Speaking to The New Paper on Sunday over the phone from Vancouver, Joshiah's mother, Victoria, said: 'To lose him like that is like the end of the world. We've wanted a second child for 10 years. We waited for him for 10 years. But in a year, he is gone.

'We went there for a vacation, but it turned out to be a tragedy.'

Joshiah's health problems began during the flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong, when he developed a slight fever and a cough.

When they arrived in Hong Kong, a doctor told the parents that he would be 'fine in three days', claimed Mrs Barros.

But, like the three children who died, Joshiah's condition quickly deteriorated.

He died within six days of contracting the flu.

Earlier this year, the flu virus in Hong Kong claimed the lives of Law Ho Ming, 7, Ho Po Yi, 3, and Or Ho Yeung, who was 27 months old.

Mrs Barros, a hospital clerk, said: 'The doctor said it was okay. We believed it would be okay. But everything went wrong.

'He was so happy at the airport at Hong Kong. He was running around. Even the lady who checked his temperature at the Hong Kong airport said he was fine.'

Joshiah had been vaccinated against the flu on 23 Nov, two days before the trip to Hong Kong.

Mrs Barros, 36, said he had also completed all his vaccinations for the year.

So, she and her husband thought of taking Joshiah and their 10-year-old daughter to visit friends in Hong Kong, where they had lived for 12 years before moving to Canada. Both parents were born in the Philippines.

But on the flight, he developed a fever of 38.7 deg C.

The next day, his parents took him to see a paediatrician, who diagnosed him with a common cold. His temperature was 38.5 deg C at that time.

After taking the prescription medication, the fever went down.

But within a few hours, it was back. This time his temperature hit 39 deg C.

Worried, the family cut short their stay in Hong Kong and left on 28 Nov for the Philippines, where Mr Barros' parents live.

When they reached Manila, the family rushed Joshiah to a children's hospital, because he was having breathing difficulties.

On Joshiah's second day in hospital, doctors told them that he was getting better, and that he could go home.

But when Mrs Barros woke at 4am to check on her son, her heart skipped a beat when she saw a red light flashing on a machine.

Her voice breaking, she said: 'I quickly alerted the nurse. The nurse told me he was going into cardiac arrest. When I saw the swelling all over his body, I knew that there was no chance for them to revive him.'

Mr Barros, a network engineer, said: 'They called the specialists in, and they told us that the infection had spread from his lungs to all over his body... his liver, everywhere.'

Mr Barros, 40, said the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation is doing an autopsy to determine the cause of Joshiah's death. The results of the autopsy are still pending.

'When I read the newspaper reports about the children dying in Hong Kong from the flu virus, I knew this killer bug was the one that killed my son,' said Mr Barros.

'I feel very upset. If there is a bug, the government should give warning, especially for people who have toddlers like us,' he added.

S'PORE DOCS SAY

Dr Chan Poh Chong, consultant paediatrician with the Singapore's National University Hospital, said that in children, influenza infections can be serious, and can lead to death.

However, Dr Tan Kim Leong, a paediatrician with Specialist Infant-Child Centre at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, said there were too many factors, such as the changing environment, to pin the cause of Joshiah's death to one factor.

He also advised against getting vaccinated too close to the date of travel.

He said: 'It won't be wise to give vaccines just before the trip.

'Some vaccines give rise to side effects, so it's better to be sure the child is stable before travelling.'