Canada - 1st death related to a drug-resistant H1N1 strain reported in NB

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Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2009/12/29/nb-flu-death.html


N.B. records 8th H1N1 death
Young Quispamsis man fought flu for a month
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 | 8:52 PM AT
CBC News

New Brunswick public health officials are reporting the province's first death related to a drug-resistant H1N1 strain.

A 27-year-old Quispamsis man died in hospital on Monday after nearly a month in intensive care, public health officials said. Doctors tried treating him with the anti-viral drug Tamiflu but those efforts failed.

The man was the eighth person in New Brunswick to die with the H1N1 virus.

?He was suffering from a number of underlying conditions that predisposed him to having a very severe case of the disease,? said Dr. Paul Van Buynder, the province's deputy chief medical health officer.

According to Van Buynder, the H1N1 strain the man contracted was resistant to drugs such as Tamiflu that are used to fight the virus.

Vaccine available

Van Buynder said it's unlikely the victim had received an H1N1 shot. Had he been vaccinated, the man would have been safe from the virus ? even the drug-resistant strain, Van Buynder said.

Health officials said they have not found a second case linked to the most recent H1N1 flu victim.

About two-thirds of New Brunswick residents have received the H1N1 shot.

Van Buynder encouraged those who haven't been vaccinated to get a shot as possible.

Although mass vaccinations have ended, shots are still available in VON (Victorian Order of Nurses) clinics, public health clinics and from certain family doctors.

 

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Re: First death related to a drug-resistant H1N1 strain reported in NB

Re: First death related to a drug-resistant H1N1 strain reported in NB

Source: http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/904173


H1N1 claims valley man
Published Wednesday December 30th, 2009
Influenza: 27-year-old youngest NBer whose death has been linked to virus, health official says

Candice Mac Lean
Telegraph-Journal

Michael Neill

QUISPAMSIS - The H1N1 influenza virus has claimed the life of a generous, encouraging, brave 27-year-old, the man's mother said through tears Tuesday.

Michael Thomas Neill of Quispamsis died at the Saint John Regional Hospital on Monday.

Carolyn Neill said her only son had a history of asthma and pneumonia and had been complaining of breathing troubles before he was diagnosed with the H1N1 influenza virus in early December.

"He said it was so bad he wanted to rip his chest open," Neill said of her son's condition. "We rushed him right in and they put him on oxygen."

Neill spent the next three and a half weeks at her son's bedside.

"They put him on a ventilator and under sedation," she said. "They wanted him to be comfortable."

When doctors brought her son out of sedation he struggled to breathe until he eventually stopped, Neill said.

"My son was good guy; he tried so hard," she said through tears. "His friends said he was kind to everybody. He was like the jolly green giant."

Despite her insistence, her son did not get the H1N1 vaccine, Neill said.

"He didn't get the shot," she said. "He was a normal 27-year-old. I asked him to get it but they just figure they're indestructible at that age."

Neill said she urges anyone who hasn't been immunized to get the vaccine immediately.

"I would never want anybody to go through this," she said. "I just hope someone's mother says to their son, 'You have to get it.' Kids should be getting the shot."

Michael Neill's death is the eighth and youngest fatality associated with the H1N1 virus in the province, said Dr. Paul Van Buynder, New Brunswick's deputy chief medical health officer.

Neill was also the first person in the province to have an H1N1 virus resistant to Tamiflu, the most common antiviral used to fight the infection, Van Buynder said.

Drug-resistant cases of H1N1 are rare and have only occurred several dozen times across the world, Van Buynder said. It means "the first-line medication used to treat the infection, Tamiflu, does not work because the virus has changed in such a way as to be resistant to the medication.

"(Michael Neill) was treated with alternative anti-virals because the ones used for everyone else in Canada didn't work in his case."

Van Buynder could not say why the young man had the rare form of the infection other than that the virus occasionally mutates.

"He was infected in early December and we didn't see any other cases linked to him with the same virus," Van Buynder said, adding that the public should not worry that the death signifies a new pandemic. "His passing away is not a sign that the virus is returning in a nastier form.

"He contracted his infection way back in the start of December. If we were going to see a problem we would see it then, not now. It's very difficult for the virus to circulate in New Brunswick because too many people have been vaccinated."

Two-thirds of the population of New Brunswick - or almost 500,000 people - have been vaccinated, Van Buynder said.

He said Michael Neill comes from the target age group of men that officials have been challenged with convincing of the importance of the vaccination.

"I think the sad passing away of this young man reminds us that the young men who have not stepped up and got themselves vaccinated are not immune to the possible severe consequences of the pandemic."

As a child, Neill said her son played football and was the first player in his league to receive an achievement reward for encouraging and helping others two years in a row.

"He helped others and he did his best," she said.

As a young man he liked video games, his car and his friends, she said.

"He loved going out with his buds," Neill said, adding that a steady stream of calls of support have been pouring into her home. "He loved life. He loved his friends."

Neill said her family has lived in Quispamsis their whole lives and she said she is grateful for the last month she was able to be at her son's side.

"I was just glad I got to be with him."

Visiting for Michael Thomas Neill will take place today from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Brenan's Select Community Funeral Home. The funeral service will be held Thursday at Brenan's Chapel at 10 a.m.