Pregnant woman with swine flu dies
Oct 15 2009
A pregnant teenage woman has died after contracting swine flu.
The 17-year-old woman, who was from the Borders, died “in the last 24 hours”, said a spokesman for Scottish Government.
A total of 106 people suffering from swine flu have now died in the UK, said Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson.
He said there had been 83 deaths in England, 15 in Scotland, four in Wales and four in Northern Ireland.
Scotland’s Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: “The death of this young mother-to-be and her baby is deeply saddening and my thoughts are with her family and friends.
“Medical experts have been telling us that pregnant women are more vulnerable to developing complications after contracting the virus. For this reason, they will be among the priority groups for vaccination when the H1N1 vaccine becomes available later this month.
“I would urge all pregnant women to get vaccinated to ensure the maximum protection for themselves and their babies.”
Meanwhile, it was announced that the swine flu vaccination programme in Scotland will start next week.
A total of 1.3 million people are in the Scottish priority groups for the first stage of the H1N1 vaccination programme, which begins on October 21.
H1N1 Attack Rate Raises Pandemic Concerns
Recombinomics Commentary 22:12
October15, 2009
Overall our average percentage of absenteeism in the district today was 15% and if you recall from our message last week the average is around 5% at this time of year. The breakdown is as follows:
High School - 7.6%
Mt. Royal Middle - 19%
Scott Ave. Elem. - 24%
Burchfield - 14%
Jeffery - 11%
Marzolf - 18%
Reserve - 12.5%
Rogers 14.5%
On Friday, the Middle School was 29% and was the school last week that started the week at 20% so it seems to be coming down which is a good sign.
The above comments from the website of a school district (Shaler) in suburban Pittsburgh, raise concerns that the H1N1 attack rate may be approaching 100% for some groups, such as middle school students. Most cases in the area (see map) are mild, and school days missed are limited because fevers generally last for only a few days. Consequently, most students only miss 1-3 days of school, so an absentee rate between 19-29% for more than 10 days suggest that more than 50% of the students were absent for 1 or more days. However, many students will not miss school because of a 3 day weekend or because they do not develop fever, so the number of infected students may be much high than 50% and may be approaching 100%.
This high attach rate is support by media reports on other schools which have peak absentee rates between 30-50%, as well as the increasing numbers of school closings. In Texas alone agency reports list 85 schools closed and high numbers have also been reported in other states such as TN and KY and additional schools are now being reported in states where the school season began more recently.
This dramatic spread has happened prior to widespread vaccinations, and signal efficient transmission, which may be blunted by an aggressive vaccination program. However, only a small percentage of ordered doses have been shipped and it is likely that significant transmission will happen prior to vaccination. Most of these cases have been mild, and data from the clinical trial in Australian suggest that mild cases can produce modest immune responses which are increased by the vaccine.
However, this high attack rate raises concerns of re-infection of mild cases as well as the evolution of virus which produces reduced titers to the current vaccine as was noted in the week 37 CDC report.
More detail on the number of student infected in a single outbreak and the level of antibody in the milder cases would be useful.
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/10150901/H1N1_Attack.html