tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
In a normal year, today would mark the end of the flu season in Minnesota. But as everyone knows, this was no typical flu season.
Last year at this time, the H1N1 flu pandemic was just beginning. Health experts braced for the worst, unsure how the new flu virus would behave.
So how did the H1N1 outbreak compare to a typical flu season? Here's a look, by the numbers.
Hospitalizations jumped 500 percent.
In the past year, 1,821 people were hospitalized in Minnesota with confirmed cases of H1N1 flu, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. By comparison, only 302 flu cases were reported by hospitals in the previous flu season, the winter of 2008-2009.
Child deaths increased
Nine Minnesota children died of flu-related causes this past year: eight from complications of the H1N1 flu, one from a different strain. In the previous year, there were none, and in the past five flu seasons, the death toll among children ranged from zero to six per year.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyl...elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUHPYDiaK7DUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUr
Last year at this time, the H1N1 flu pandemic was just beginning. Health experts braced for the worst, unsure how the new flu virus would behave.
So how did the H1N1 outbreak compare to a typical flu season? Here's a look, by the numbers.
Hospitalizations jumped 500 percent.
In the past year, 1,821 people were hospitalized in Minnesota with confirmed cases of H1N1 flu, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. By comparison, only 302 flu cases were reported by hospitals in the previous flu season, the winter of 2008-2009.
Child deaths increased
Nine Minnesota children died of flu-related causes this past year: eight from complications of the H1N1 flu, one from a different strain. In the previous year, there were none, and in the past five flu seasons, the death toll among children ranged from zero to six per year.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyl...elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUHPYDiaK7DUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUr