Re: First Utah H1N1 Death
Not so fast they now report he has underlying health conditions.
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Young man is Utah's first H1N1 swine flu death
By Heather May
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 05/20/2009 02:24:03 PM MDT
A 21-year-old Salt Lake City man is believed to have died due to the H1N1 swine flu, in the first Utah death tied to the new flu strain.
The man, wh
o was not named, had underlying health conditions, health officials said at an afternoon news conference. He died Wednesday at University Hospital in Salt Lake City, where an autopsy is planned to investigate whether he had a bacterial infection, they said.
Researchers are striving to discover why the new flu "is seeming to have a harder impact on young people," said David Sundwall, executive director of the Utah Department of Health. "We don't know why."
Sundwall said he did not want to downplay the death, but said fatalies from the flu are expected.
"We need to be alert but not alarmed," Sundwall said, urging Utahns to continue to use common sense, such as handwashing and staying home when sick. "We don't want people out and about if they're ill."
The other eight flu deaths in the U.S. have generally been among patients who have underlying health conditions.
Utah currently has 116 confirmed flu cases. Nearly half are in the Salt Lake Valley Health District, with 56 cases, and 36 cases are in Summit County. Others are scattered around the state.
During a briefing about the new flu to lawmakers earlier Wednesday, Sundwall didn't mention the death, but did warn legislators that "we are in the relatively early phases of an unfolding epidemic or pandemic."
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He said he was troubled by what he called "flu fatigue. It is not bogus. It is not trumped up. It is not false. It is real."
And state epidemiologist Robert Rolfs told lawmakers, "We need to be ready for it to do something unexpected."
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_12411489