Treyfish
Moderator
Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 11:42 p.m.
Two patients with confirmed cases of swine flu are on ventilators and in an intensive care unit at a Georgetown County hospital, NewsChannel 15 has learned.
Despite some rumors, there have been no confirmed cases of swine flu death in South Carolina, said Dr. Robert Ball, the coastal region's infectious disease epidimiologist for the S.C. Department of Health Environmental Control.
Ball said the patients in Georgetown are in critical condition resulting from complications from the H1N1 virus.
Ball did not give ages, race or gender of the patients, but he did stress such cases are not unique to Georgetown County and have been reported in several coastal areas of South Carolina. There have also been sporadic reports of critical patients in other parts of the state, Ball said.
While most of S.C. has seen at least a few cases of swine flu, Ball said the region where it's most prevalent is along the coast. It could have to do with heavy travel and tourism, but there's no definitive answer, Ball said.
Ball fears swine flu cases are being underreported. He estimates for every one confirmed case, there are as many 20 cases that haven't been reported.
Health regulators, Ball said, are conducting "confirmatory" testing only on patients that are hospitalized, deceased or in areas of cluster cases.
Ball said there's simply not enough money or time to test every possible case.
Ball said of all the confirmed cases of swine flu, fewer than one percent of those have serious enough complications to become hospitalized.:tiphat:http://www.carolinalive.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=343805
Two patients with confirmed cases of swine flu are on ventilators and in an intensive care unit at a Georgetown County hospital, NewsChannel 15 has learned.
Despite some rumors, there have been no confirmed cases of swine flu death in South Carolina, said Dr. Robert Ball, the coastal region's infectious disease epidimiologist for the S.C. Department of Health Environmental Control.
Ball said the patients in Georgetown are in critical condition resulting from complications from the H1N1 virus.
Ball did not give ages, race or gender of the patients, but he did stress such cases are not unique to Georgetown County and have been reported in several coastal areas of South Carolina. There have also been sporadic reports of critical patients in other parts of the state, Ball said.
While most of S.C. has seen at least a few cases of swine flu, Ball said the region where it's most prevalent is along the coast. It could have to do with heavy travel and tourism, but there's no definitive answer, Ball said.
Ball fears swine flu cases are being underreported. He estimates for every one confirmed case, there are as many 20 cases that haven't been reported.
Health regulators, Ball said, are conducting "confirmatory" testing only on patients that are hospitalized, deceased or in areas of cluster cases.
Ball said there's simply not enough money or time to test every possible case.
Ball said of all the confirmed cases of swine flu, fewer than one percent of those have serious enough complications to become hospitalized.:tiphat:http://www.carolinalive.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=343805