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Source: http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/co...id/524371.html
Second H1N1 flu patient dies in Blair
By William Kibler, bkibler@altoonamirror.com
POSTED: November 14, 2009
A 22-year-old patient with the H1N1 flu died Wednesday or early Thursday at Altoona Regional Health System - the second such patient in Blair County to die during the current epidemic, the system's chief medical officer said Friday.
The death comes as the number of swine flu patients has increased in recent weeks.
The patient who died this week didn't quite fit the common profile for the illness: healthy young people up to age 24, adults older than 24 with underlying medical conditions and pregnant women and children younger than 5 with high-risk medical conditions, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The patient wasn't healthy, having multiple medical problems, said Dr. David Cowger, who declined to specify the problems or disclose the patient's gender to comply with confidentiality laws.
An elderly woman with the flu who died in October also had multiple medical problems, Cowger said.
While swine flu is causing about the same number of deaths - 30,000 a year - as the regular seasonal flu, swine flu has caused special alarm because most people lack immunity to it, Cowger said.
It, however, hasn't proven to be "super-virulent," he said.
Older people seem to have a bit of immunity, because it resembles a flu virus that made the rounds in the 1950s, he said.
Some younger people are reacting badly, perhaps because the swine flu triggers an overreaction in their immune systems that triggers problems for the lungs and other organs.
The regular seasonal flu causes the most problems for older people, whose immune systems may have deteriorated, but the general population has resistance to it, because it's not that different from year-to-year, Cowger said.
Swine flu complications have caused 29 deaths in Pennsylvania, state Department of Health spokeswoman Stacy Kriedeman said. The number doesn't include the two Blair County swine flu patients, whose deaths the department hasn't confirmed were caused by the illness.
There have been 9,289 confirmed swine flu cases overall in Pennsylvania, and 103 more probable cases, Kriedeman said.
The epidemic will probably last through the winter, Cowger predicted.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.
Second H1N1 flu patient dies in Blair
By William Kibler, bkibler@altoonamirror.com
POSTED: November 14, 2009
A 22-year-old patient with the H1N1 flu died Wednesday or early Thursday at Altoona Regional Health System - the second such patient in Blair County to die during the current epidemic, the system's chief medical officer said Friday.
The death comes as the number of swine flu patients has increased in recent weeks.
The patient who died this week didn't quite fit the common profile for the illness: healthy young people up to age 24, adults older than 24 with underlying medical conditions and pregnant women and children younger than 5 with high-risk medical conditions, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The patient wasn't healthy, having multiple medical problems, said Dr. David Cowger, who declined to specify the problems or disclose the patient's gender to comply with confidentiality laws.
An elderly woman with the flu who died in October also had multiple medical problems, Cowger said.
While swine flu is causing about the same number of deaths - 30,000 a year - as the regular seasonal flu, swine flu has caused special alarm because most people lack immunity to it, Cowger said.
It, however, hasn't proven to be "super-virulent," he said.
Older people seem to have a bit of immunity, because it resembles a flu virus that made the rounds in the 1950s, he said.
Some younger people are reacting badly, perhaps because the swine flu triggers an overreaction in their immune systems that triggers problems for the lungs and other organs.
The regular seasonal flu causes the most problems for older people, whose immune systems may have deteriorated, but the general population has resistance to it, because it's not that different from year-to-year, Cowger said.
Swine flu complications have caused 29 deaths in Pennsylvania, state Department of Health spokeswoman Stacy Kriedeman said. The number doesn't include the two Blair County swine flu patients, whose deaths the department hasn't confirmed were caused by the illness.
There have been 9,289 confirmed swine flu cases overall in Pennsylvania, and 103 more probable cases, Kriedeman said.
The epidemic will probably last through the winter, Cowger predicted.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.