Australia - Healthy young at risk from swine flu

[Sally Furniss]

Healthy young at risk from swine flu

Pia Akerman | July 11, 2009
Article from: The Australian

A MEXICAN scientist involved in analysing the swine flu outbreak that has killed at least 119 people in his country has warned that young and healthy people are also dying from the H1N1 virus.

Most of the 18 Australians who have died with swine flu had other serious health problems contributing to their deaths, and those deemed most vulnerable have been the focus of the commonwealth response to the pandemic.

But Antonio Lazcano, biology professor at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, told The Weekend Australian "an excess of precaution" was also required for healthy people.

"In some cases, it simply doesn't fit with any underlying health problems," he said.

"In the Mexican case, people were paying attention to the very young or very old or people with underlying problems like diabetics.

"What was very surprising is a very significant number of the deceased people did not fall into the extremes of ages but actually were between 20 and 35, which is a population you normally don't expect to get ill."

Professor Lazcano, president of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, joined a group of Mexican scientists who after the outbreak there began to study the H1N1 virus.

He said the pandemic -- which has been associated with at least 429 deaths globally -- should be expected to get worse.

"One must remember that when the big 1918 Spanish influenza developed, the first wave was a very mild one and then the second wave was very serious. My own guess is that the flu is here forever. It will be coming periodically.

"Winter is coming in the southern hemisphere, so people must pay a lot of attention," he said in Adelaide, where he is attending the Festival of Ideas this weekend.

Professor Lazcano believes the virus probably originated in the US and went unnoticed until it suddenly "exploded" in Mexico. "My guess is that the virus has been around at least for three or four years, circulating."

Swine flu is now infecting more influenza patients in Australia than all other strains combined.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25763442-23289,00.html

 

[kiwibird]

Re: Australia - Healthy young at risk from swine flu

Kids swine flu SOS

Tanya Westthorp

July 14th, 2009

PARENTS have been warned to keep sick kids at home when school returns today, amid fears the start of term could trigger a massive outbreak of swine flu.

The pandemic has spread like wildfire through Queensland in the past three weeks, jumping from just 379 cases on June 23 to 2263 confirmed cases now -- 211 of them on the Gold Coast.

Queensland is now the swine flu capital of Australia, surpassing Victoria, which has 2131 cases and NSW with 2029.

A Lennox Head woman died from swine flu in Lismore Base Hospital on Saturday.

Mother of four and grandmother of four Denise McKinnon, 61, was the fourth person with swine flu to die in NSW.

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said the woman had underlying medical conditions and after her death, subsequent tests revealed she had H1N1 influenza.

As of yesterday, 17 other Australians had died from swine flu, 95 were in hospital and 26 of these were in intensive care units -- including five Queenslanders.

The pandemic has continued to spread rapidly, even though the school holidays provided a buffer to stopping the easy transmission between children.

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young yesterday urged parents to keep their children at home if they had flu-like symptoms.

"We've not experienced a pandemic for over 30 years, so students and parents won't have a body of experience about their roles in such an outbreak," she said.

"Some groups within the community are more vulnerable than others if they catch the flu, so everyone should do the right thing and not go to school, or work, if they feel like they have the flu.

"Most schools will have students and teachers who fall into this vulnerable category, and for these people, the flu can lead to serious medical complications. So this is not about what it suits people to do -- it's about what people should do."

She said children should be kept in home quarantine until at least 24 hours after the symptoms had passed.

Symptoms to watch for are similar to those of seasonal influenza -- fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, body aches and chills

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/07/14/97525_gold-coast-news.html