Swine flu takes a local life
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Fred Massoomi, pharmacy operations coordinator at Methodist Hospital in Omaha, Neb., holds five doses of swine flu vaccine, part of the first shipment of swine flu vaccine, Monday, Oct. 5, 2009. Omaha's Methodist Health System received 300 doses of the swine flu vaccine Monday morning in one of the first shipments to the state.
JANESVILLE — Wisconsin's first influenza death of the fall was in Rock County, but people in good health should not be overly concerned, officials said.
The death was the state's ninth from swine flu since the pandemic flu strain was identified last March, but it was the first death this fall.
The person who died last week had "underlying medical conditions" that contributed to the death, officials said.
"H1N1 flu—for someone who has serious underlying conditions like diabetes or asthma or some sort of disease that compromises their immune system—colds or flu can be deadly," said Seth Boffeli, spokesman for the state Department of Health Service. "In terms of the general public, I don't think people are any more susceptible to deaths with this virus than seasonal flu."
Nationwide, seasonal flu kills about 30,000 people each year, Boffeli said.
The state tracks only child deaths from influenza, so the total number of flu deaths each year is unknown. No Wisconsin child deaths from the flu were recorded last year, Boffeli said.
Officials would not reveal the deceased person's identity, age, place of residence or what the underlying conditions were. Rock County Health Officer Karen Cain said the decision to withhold information was done out of concern for the family.
"We try to provide as few personal details so that people wouldn't be able to identify who it is," Cain said. "In a smaller area like our area, if we gave out additional information, it would be easy enough for people to figure out who it was …"
Pressed for an age range, Cain would say only that the person was under age 64.
Age has been an issue with swine flu. Young adults seem to be the most susceptible, while with seasonal flu, older people and the very young are the most susceptible, Cain said.
"What's important to know is, somebody died from H1N1 and there still are precautions that we should be taking to prevent the spread and prevent the infections," Cain said.
Health authorities are preaching proper hand washing and coughing procedures, staying home if you have flu symptoms and getting vaccinated once the vaccine is available.
Cain said the death came last week sometime, and state authorities notified her office Friday. The person was hospitalized, but Cain said she did not know whether the hospitalization was for the flu or for another condition.
Rock County has 52 confirmed cases of swine flu since last March, Cain said. The county likely has had many more, but most cases are not being sent in for testing, as they were when the virus was first identified.
All flu cases in recent weeks are presumed to be swine flu because seasonal flu has not yet appeared, Cain said.
The H1N1 virus is similar to viruses that cause seasonal influenza.
"The symptoms are the same—the fever, the congestion, the sore throat, the cough, the aching muscles," Cain said.
Virulence also is thought to be about the same.
Only nine people have been hospitalized for swine flu in Wisconsin since last spring, Boffeli said. None of the recent swine flu cases at UW-Madison were hospitalized, he said.
Nasal-spray vaccine expected in state soon
Vaccines for swine flu are expected to arrive in the state within the next two weeks, according to the Rock County Health Department.
The first vaccines will be of the nasal-spray variety, which are recommended only for people age 2-49 who are in good health, said Rock County Health Officer Karen Cain.
But the people recommended to get the vaccine first are no older than 24, because that's the population that has been hit hardest by swine flu, Cain said. So in effect, the first round should be given only to those ages 2-24 who are in good health.
People with other health problems should not get the flu mist because it requires a strong immune system to produce immunity, Cain said.
Cain said her department is busy scheduling vaccination clinics under the assumption that the vaccinations will be here by the end of October. Clinics will be announced as soon as the vaccine is available.
Once swine flu shots are available, people who should get them soonest are:
-- Health care workers and EMS responders.
-- Children 6 months through 24 years of age.
-- Pregnant women.
-- Adults 25 through 64 who have a chronic health condition.
-- Caregivers of infants less than 6 months of age.
Cain said she believes that eventually, vaccines will be sufficient for anyone who wants them.
Oct 7, 2009 at 11:10 p.m.
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A person can have one or many chronic illnesses, any one of them can cause death at any time. However, when a person with a chronic illness dies from flu complications and the chronic problems have been dormant, the cause of death is the flu. It is important to know that the person had an underlying disease because he/she has less ability to fight off the flu and the following bacterial infections that follow. A healthy person can usually fight this virus and other flu viruses off. They actually gave the chronic illness information to prevent panic.
We don't need names or locations of the person. They don't release this information about people with seasonal flu so unless things progress it isn't any more dangerous.
Oct 7, 2009 at 6:19 p.m.
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The person who died might not have died from the H1N1. Although they had it, they also had other medical problems, so the person could have died from one of those. The paper is just letting you know that someone with H1N1 had passed away. Doesn't mean that was the cause of death.
You should treat everyone as they have it. Wash, wash, wash! Use antibacterial wipes on shopping carts, use your shirt sleeve to open a door, use the paper towel to open the bathroom door. Who cares if you throw the paper towel on the floor, every place of business should have a garbage can next to the door.
Just out of curiosity are there any health care workers getting the vaccine?
Oct 7, 2009 at 2:53 p.m.
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I'm not talking about respect OR sympathy here, & "in_my_opinion" apparently needs to get a life! Daily, people die from various causes & their names are reported without repercussions--that I've heard. I can feel both sympathy & respect for each family, as I certainly do for this one. I think both the age & underlying illnesses would be helpful to the public in assessing our own risks. Anyone has the right to disagree with me--WITHOUT either one of us being considered subhuman!
Oct 7, 2009 at 1:44 p.m.
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We should assume everyone we come in contact with has the swine flu and take all the precautions necessary then no matter what we will have done the best we can to prevent contact with it. Don't shake hands, keep hand sanitizer and use it after your hands come in contact with anything (public doors, light switches, phones......).
This person and their family are not at fault in any way! If anything they are victims. Let's show some sympathy and respect.
You never know if you will be the next one that needs a little respect and sympathy.
Oct 7, 2009 at 1:13 p.m.
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Inmyopinion- I respectfully disagree a bit with this.. This "flu thing" has been a huge topic for months..I feel that people have a right to know if they came in contact with this person given the fact that this is an airborne flu.. I dont understand why the family would not want to give out this information, this wasnt like some choice of illness for this person. If I, or any of my family had to go through something so devastating I would want others to know.
Oct 7, 2009 at 11:27 a.m.
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If she had health problems why are they saying she died from swine flu?
Oct 7, 2009 at 11:10 a.m.
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Oct 6, 2009 at 10:20 p.m.BRWE: "So how come the family's "right to privacy" (if that's what we're calling it) outweighs the public's right to know all it can about this threat (of whatever degree) to the community?"
How about the fact that this family suddenly and unexpectedly lost a loved one? They are grieving and the last thing that they need is someone sticking thier nose into their lives.
You are in NO WAY entitled to anymore information. They made you aware of the threat posed to you. The same as the regular flu IF you are healthy. Your comment is out of line and makes you appear as nothing more than a nosy neighbor.
How dare you want to impose on this family's grief. Shame on you.
Oct 7, 2009 at 10:57 a.m.
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happycamper- How does underlying heath problems equal "Poor choices in life style takes local life"? You are making huge assumptions here. There is no information in the article to imply "life style" was a contributing factor.
Oct 7, 2009 at 10:47 a.m.
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Headlines should have read;
"Poor choices in life style takes local life". With all the so called underlying problems a common cold could have caused her death. Good job gazette trying to scare the public, what next, running thru a movie theater yelling FIRE!
Oct 7, 2009 at 10:06 a.m.
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I don't think the paper should release the names of people arrested until they're proven guilty. Yes, it's on topic.
Oct 6, 2009 at 10:20 p.m.
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Maybe I'm missing something here, but as far as I know, there's no stigma attached to dying from ANY variety of the flu. So how come the family's "right to privacy" (if that's what we're calling it) outweighs the public's right to know all it can about this threat (of whatever degree) to the community?
Oct 6, 2009 at 9:34 p.m.
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Actually H1N1 is a subtype of influenza A, the most common cause of seasonal flu in humans. In fact, "human H1N1" is already included in the seasonal flu shot.
Where as "swine H1N1" is a different strain that is endemic in pigs just like "avian H1N1" is endemic in birds. The current virus, isolated from patients in the United States, is made up of genetic elements from four different flu viruses – North American swine influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza, and a swine influenza virus typically found in Asia and Europe. All four of these are different strains subtype H1N1.
So I guess calling it "Swine Flu" is just a lot easier than "North American swine, avian, human, Asian/Europe swine flu H1N1"
Though it should be noted that you can't get Swine Flu just from eating a pork chop. Now if someone with swine flu sneezes on your pork chop all bets are off.
Oct 6, 2009 at 7:55 p.m.
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Gazette:Please,Please.Stop calling it the Swine Flu.Call it by the givin name of H1N1.Or dont you care about your area pork producers?.............
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