Burned Florida boy suffers relapse

MIAMI, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A Florida youth doused with rubbing alcohol and set ablaze by teen attackers last year is back in the hospital, officials said.

Hospital spokeswoman Lorraine Nelson said Michael Brewer, 15, of Deerfield Beach, Fla., was admitted to Holtz Children's Hospital in Miami Sunday and was listed in serious condition with respiratory problems, The Miami Herald reported.

"All his doctor will allow us to say is that Michael was readmitted to the hospital due to respiratory complications," Nelson said.

"Mikey has had respiratory distress the last few days due to his asthma, the change in temperatures in South Florida, and the multiple intubations that he had to endure due to his skin graft surgeries," family spokesman Gary Fuller said on the youth's Facebook page.

"He had a bad night/morning Sunday so Valerie and Mike Sr. (the teen's parents) decided after consultations with doctors to take him into a hospital near his grandmother's house this morning."

Michael went home Dec. 22 after spending more than two months in Jackson Memorial Hospital recovering from burns more than 65 percent of his body, the Herald said.