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Swine flu cases on the rise in Illinois
Naperville girl's death also linked to 'heart condition'
Tribune reporters
October 11, 2009
For the second time this year, a bump in confirmed cases of swine flu has energized school prevention efforts and reinforced questions over how seriously to consider the H1N1 virus, which appears to target a younger population and already has proven deadly.
Weekly flu reports show a steady climb in reported flu symptoms since September in Illinois. School absenteeism climbed across much of the Chicago area, while vigilance is heightened most everywhere.
On Saturday, DuPage County Health Department officials reported that a 14-year-old Naperville North High School freshman who died Thursday had not only the H1N1 virus but also a "serious heart condition" that "strongly contributed" to her death.
The officials reported on their Web site that a pathology exam revealed that Michelle Fahle had an "undiagnosed, progressive defect" in her heart which made her health vulnerable "prior to contracting the H1N1 virus." They said they would do further testing to determine a final cause of death.
Fahle's death underscored how severely a flu virus can strike as the winter flu season ramps up weeks earlier than normal this year. But the report of her additional complication reinforced health experts' message that 70 percent of swine flu-related deaths have occurred among people with underlying health issues.
"This is a tragic reminder for parents, teachers, students and members of the community to really try to prevent illness," Dr. Rashmi Chugh, the department's medical officer, said Friday.
Before Fahle died, 19 other Illinois deaths had been attributed to H1N1 this year. They have occurred in a handful of counties: Cook, Lake, Kane, Winnebago, La Salle, Christian -- and now DuPage.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reported 19 additional deaths of children younger than 18, bringing the total to 76 across the country since the H1N1 virus became active in April. In Illinois, 199 people younger than 18 have been hospitalized since April and three have died, not counting Fahle.
To put it in context, the CDC said, the annual pediatric influenza deaths in the last three years ranged from 46 to 88.
The number of pediatric deaths peaked in April, May and June and began leveling off in the summer. But now, officials said, it is beginning to rise again. Reports of flu symptoms in Illinois this fall surged 2.5 percent higher than reporting for the same periods of the last two years. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health's weekly flu report, 90 percent of the flulike viruses it tested in late September tested positive for H1N1. Across northern Illinois, schools braced for the bug's impact.
Schools and local health departments have talked about how best to immunize students. There was a flurry of school closings in the spring, but now many administrators and school nurses said they rely on parents to keep children with flulike symptoms at home.
Though attendance seems no worse than in past years at many individual schools, several county health departments report an increase in flulike illnesses among schoolchildren.
In Lake County, for instance, school absenteeism increased steadily since Labor Day with students reporting fevers, sore throats and coughs, said epidemiologist Victor Plotkin of the county Health Department.
"Normally we started our surveillance later in the season. It was November and December. It was never September and October," Plotkin said.
Similar concerns led McHenry County to work with local health providers to deliver an H1N1 vaccine when the immunizations arrive later this month, said McHenry Health Department director of professional services director Fran Stanwood.
Naperville girl's death also linked to 'heart condition'
Tribune reporters
October 11, 2009
For the second time this year, a bump in confirmed cases of swine flu has energized school prevention efforts and reinforced questions over how seriously to consider the H1N1 virus, which appears to target a younger population and already has proven deadly.
Weekly flu reports show a steady climb in reported flu symptoms since September in Illinois. School absenteeism climbed across much of the Chicago area, while vigilance is heightened most everywhere.
On Saturday, DuPage County Health Department officials reported that a 14-year-old Naperville North High School freshman who died Thursday had not only the H1N1 virus but also a "serious heart condition" that "strongly contributed" to her death.
The officials reported on their Web site that a pathology exam revealed that Michelle Fahle had an "undiagnosed, progressive defect" in her heart which made her health vulnerable "prior to contracting the H1N1 virus." They said they would do further testing to determine a final cause of death.
Fahle's death underscored how severely a flu virus can strike as the winter flu season ramps up weeks earlier than normal this year. But the report of her additional complication reinforced health experts' message that 70 percent of swine flu-related deaths have occurred among people with underlying health issues.
"This is a tragic reminder for parents, teachers, students and members of the community to really try to prevent illness," Dr. Rashmi Chugh, the department's medical officer, said Friday.
Before Fahle died, 19 other Illinois deaths had been attributed to H1N1 this year. They have occurred in a handful of counties: Cook, Lake, Kane, Winnebago, La Salle, Christian -- and now DuPage.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reported 19 additional deaths of children younger than 18, bringing the total to 76 across the country since the H1N1 virus became active in April. In Illinois, 199 people younger than 18 have been hospitalized since April and three have died, not counting Fahle.
To put it in context, the CDC said, the annual pediatric influenza deaths in the last three years ranged from 46 to 88.
The number of pediatric deaths peaked in April, May and June and began leveling off in the summer. But now, officials said, it is beginning to rise again. Reports of flu symptoms in Illinois this fall surged 2.5 percent higher than reporting for the same periods of the last two years. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health's weekly flu report, 90 percent of the flulike viruses it tested in late September tested positive for H1N1. Across northern Illinois, schools braced for the bug's impact.
Schools and local health departments have talked about how best to immunize students. There was a flurry of school closings in the spring, but now many administrators and school nurses said they rely on parents to keep children with flulike symptoms at home.
Though attendance seems no worse than in past years at many individual schools, several county health departments report an increase in flulike illnesses among schoolchildren.
In Lake County, for instance, school absenteeism increased steadily since Labor Day with students reporting fevers, sore throats and coughs, said epidemiologist Victor Plotkin of the county Health Department.
"Normally we started our surveillance later in the season. It was November and December. It was never September and October," Plotkin said.
Similar concerns led McHenry County to work with local health providers to deliver an H1N1 vaccine when the immunizations arrive later this month, said McHenry Health Department director of professional services director Fran Stanwood.
