Medical condition, swine flu combine to claim 40-year-old woman
JOURNAL AND COURIER • October 16, 2009
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Health officials say a 40-year-old woman has died of complications from swine flu in central Indiana’s Tippecanoe County.
County health officer Dr. Michael Bohlin says the woman had a previous medical condition that caused severe complications that led to respiratory failure. The woman died Thursday at a Lafayette hospital.
The State Department of Health has confirmed five other deaths in Indiana from swine flu since July.
Widespread flu illness prompted the Clinton Prairie School Corp. in neighboring Clinton County to cancel Friday’s classes and all weekend sports events.
Athletic director Bobby Smith says more than a quarter of the junior-senior high school’s some 430 students were absent Thursday.
http://www.pal-item.com/article/20091016/UPDATES/91016014/1008/rss
CT:
Health officials hold H1N1 informational session
By David Hennessey
Updated: 10/16/2009 12:20:05 PM EDT
http://www.connpost.com/brooks/ci_13576067
NORWALK - Jack Kleis, 84, of Norwalk, made his way with his wife Jean to an informational meeting at Norwalk City Hall last Wednesday night to try and separate fact from fiction in regard to the so-dubbed swine flu or H1N1 virus.
Kleis said after the meeting he found much of the information useful, as he was able to glean important facts about swine flu vaccines and risk factors. State Sen. Bob Duff headed the session, alongside Terry Rabatsky-Ehr, field epidemiologist for the State Department of Public Health, Tim Callahan, director of Norwalk’s Health Department, David Knauf, director of health for Darien, and Dr. Eliot Husarsky, Internist and Infectious Diseases physician at Norwalk Hospital.
Both Kleis and his wife have health problems - he suffers from diabetes and she has health difficulties that compromise her immune system - that can heighten the severity of swine flu in some patients. They were relieved, however, when they saw that, according to recent statistics from the Center for Disease Control, the 2009 H1N1 virus has largely avoided the elderly since its first appearance in California early this spring.
H1N1 so far has attacked young children most frequently, according to Callahan.
The Kleises and two dozen other people who attended the session learned vaccines will be arriving in Connecticut before the end of the month.According to information from Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s office, 20,000 doses of intranasal swine flu vaccine will arrive in the state sometime over the next week.
“It’s one of those things where, if you want, you’ll be able to get it,” Jack Kleis said. “But no one is forcing you to get it.”
Both Kleises said they would probably get vaccinated when it becomes available.
Swine flu vaccines were a hot topic last Wednesday evening, as some members of the public questioned the safety of such precautions - particularly since some of the forthcoming vaccines contain traces of the live virus - but Callahan and Rabatsky-Ehr were adamant any vaccines administered through licensed health clinics and doctors would be safe.
Tamiflu and Zanamivir, they said, are still the preferred methods of treatment once a patient has contracted the virus.
“As a dad and someone in the community, I hear a lot about H1N1,” Duff said. “Maybe it’s an information overload, but maybe we do need to learn a little bit more about it.”
Symptoms of the virus can be similar to the seasonal flu and can include fever, cough, weakness and difficulty breathing, Rabatsky-Ehr said. “If you’ve ever had the flu, you probably felt like you had been run over by a truck,” she said.
The virus is spread through respiratory droplets, she said.
People infected with seasonal and the 2009 H1N1 flu virus may be able to infect others from one day before getting sick to five to seven days after, according to the CDC. This time period can be longer in some people, especially in children and people with weakened immune systems and in people infected with the new H1N1 virus.
The CDC recommends covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing and throwing the tissue in the trash after you use it.
You should also wash your hands often with soap and water and use an alcohol-based hand rub if soap is not available. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Try to avoid close contact with sick people. If you are sick with a flu-like illness, the CDC recommends you stay home - except to get medical care or for other necessities - for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone. Your fever should dissipate without the use of a fever-reducing medicine. Keep away from others as much as possible, the CDC says.
“I don’t want to say it’s not a big deal - and we are planning for the worst, but we haven’t had many hospitalizations in the state,” Knauf said.
Using the metaphor of a smoking kitchen to describe H1N1, he said: “The house is not on fire.” { give it five minutes...}