H1N1 patient ethnicities revealed
Official figures show over 50 percent of swine flu patients -- where ethnicity is known and the H1N1 virus has been confirmed -- are Maori or Pacific Islanders.
But health officials said today it was still "too early" to say whether the pandemic swine flu virus was hitting Polynesians harder than other ethnic groups.
At noon today, of a total of 1059 confirmed cases, 207 were Maori, 212 were Pacific Islanders, and 258 were European.
Other ethnicities among patients with confirmed swine flu totalled 84 while another 298 were of unknown ethnicity.
Of the 761 confirmed swine flu patients for whom ethnicity is known, 27.2 percent were Maori, 27.8 percent Pacific Islanders, 33.9 percent European, and 11 percent other ethnicities, Health Ministry figures show.
In the 2006 census just 14.6 percent of the population were Maori, and 14.7 percent Polynesian.
A ministry spokesman was equivocal about the local implications of overseas research which suggested some indigenous people may be more susceptible to swine flu virus, compounding an array of existing health conditions.
The authors of research in a British medical journal, The Lancet, today warned of a looming international public health catastrophe.
Such a pattern was seen in the 1918 pandemic -- which involved a different influenza strain -- when Maori were seven times more likely than Europeans to die.
The author of the Lancet article was Dr Michael Gracey, a medical adviser to Unity of First People of Australia, an aboriginal non-profit organisation.
Dr Gracey cited the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 when he said almost 400 million indigenous peoples were particularly at risk of contracting swine flu because they often lived in poorer conditions with less access to medical help.
Despite comprising just 10 percent of the population in the Canadian province of Manitoba, First Nations natives make up about a third of the 685 swine flu cases in that province.
In New Zealand, the ministry said it was too early to be clear about any ethnic pattern in New Zealand.
"While the early data of confirmed cases shows a higher number of cases identifying themselves as Maori or Pacific, there are a large percentage of cases for whom ethnicity has not been recorded," a spokesman said.
The accuracy of infection rates was confounded at this early stage by numbers of confirmed cases including travellers and close contacts of travellers who returned to New Zealand with pandemic influenza infection.
And since the move to the "manage it" phase, only a small proportion of people with symptoms were now being tested, and these tended to be people with underlying medical conditions and those who were at greater risk of developing a more severe illness.
"There are a number of population groups which appear to be at particular risk to the current pandemic," the ministry said.
"These include people with co-morbidities (other illnesses such as asthma), children and young adults.
"There are also suggestions from other countries that indigenous peoples may also be at greater risk.
"It is too early to be clear about any such pattern in New Zealand."
Asked to what extent swine flu patients who fell seriously ill might be influenced by existing high levels of asthma, diabetes, obesity, and malnourishment, or their use of alcohol, other drugs, and tobacco, the MOH said there was a great deal that was still to be learned about the virus.
"It is too early to be able to attribute risk of infection or risk of more serious illness," it said.
Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia said Maori people with respiratory problems should take extra precautions against swine flu.
"It is commonly known that asthma disproportionately affects Maori and lower socioeconomic groups, and therefore our people need to take even more caution and be particularly vigilant with our babies and children who are asthmatic," she said.
During the 1918 influenza pandemic, Maori died at about 42.3 people per 1000, seven times the rate of Europeans. Maori had one of the world's highest known mortality rates, and 4 percent of the Maori population died in two months.
By December 1918, influenza had killed 8600 New Zealanders, including at least 2160 Maori, and the death rate in 1918 was higher among other Polynesians as well: 20 percent of those who fell ill in Samoa died, and in French Polynesia, the flu killed 25 percent of the people who fell ill.
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/5706452/h1n1-patient-ethnicities-revealed/
Official figures show over 50 percent of swine flu patients -- where ethnicity is known and the H1N1 virus has been confirmed -- are Maori or Pacific Islanders.
But health officials said today it was still "too early" to say whether the pandemic swine flu virus was hitting Polynesians harder than other ethnic groups.
At noon today, of a total of 1059 confirmed cases, 207 were Maori, 212 were Pacific Islanders, and 258 were European.
Other ethnicities among patients with confirmed swine flu totalled 84 while another 298 were of unknown ethnicity.
Of the 761 confirmed swine flu patients for whom ethnicity is known, 27.2 percent were Maori, 27.8 percent Pacific Islanders, 33.9 percent European, and 11 percent other ethnicities, Health Ministry figures show.
In the 2006 census just 14.6 percent of the population were Maori, and 14.7 percent Polynesian.
A ministry spokesman was equivocal about the local implications of overseas research which suggested some indigenous people may be more susceptible to swine flu virus, compounding an array of existing health conditions.
The authors of research in a British medical journal, The Lancet, today warned of a looming international public health catastrophe.
Such a pattern was seen in the 1918 pandemic -- which involved a different influenza strain -- when Maori were seven times more likely than Europeans to die.
The author of the Lancet article was Dr Michael Gracey, a medical adviser to Unity of First People of Australia, an aboriginal non-profit organisation.
Dr Gracey cited the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 when he said almost 400 million indigenous peoples were particularly at risk of contracting swine flu because they often lived in poorer conditions with less access to medical help.
Despite comprising just 10 percent of the population in the Canadian province of Manitoba, First Nations natives make up about a third of the 685 swine flu cases in that province.
In New Zealand, the ministry said it was too early to be clear about any ethnic pattern in New Zealand.
"While the early data of confirmed cases shows a higher number of cases identifying themselves as Maori or Pacific, there are a large percentage of cases for whom ethnicity has not been recorded," a spokesman said.
The accuracy of infection rates was confounded at this early stage by numbers of confirmed cases including travellers and close contacts of travellers who returned to New Zealand with pandemic influenza infection.
And since the move to the "manage it" phase, only a small proportion of people with symptoms were now being tested, and these tended to be people with underlying medical conditions and those who were at greater risk of developing a more severe illness.
"There are a number of population groups which appear to be at particular risk to the current pandemic," the ministry said.
"These include people with co-morbidities (other illnesses such as asthma), children and young adults.
"There are also suggestions from other countries that indigenous peoples may also be at greater risk.
"It is too early to be clear about any such pattern in New Zealand."
Asked to what extent swine flu patients who fell seriously ill might be influenced by existing high levels of asthma, diabetes, obesity, and malnourishment, or their use of alcohol, other drugs, and tobacco, the MOH said there was a great deal that was still to be learned about the virus.
"It is too early to be able to attribute risk of infection or risk of more serious illness," it said.
Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia said Maori people with respiratory problems should take extra precautions against swine flu.
"It is commonly known that asthma disproportionately affects Maori and lower socioeconomic groups, and therefore our people need to take even more caution and be particularly vigilant with our babies and children who are asthmatic," she said.
During the 1918 influenza pandemic, Maori died at about 42.3 people per 1000, seven times the rate of Europeans. Maori had one of the world's highest known mortality rates, and 4 percent of the Maori population died in two months.
By December 1918, influenza had killed 8600 New Zealanders, including at least 2160 Maori, and the death rate in 1918 was higher among other Polynesians as well: 20 percent of those who fell ill in Samoa died, and in French Polynesia, the flu killed 25 percent of the people who fell ill.
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/5706452/h1n1-patient-ethnicities-revealed/
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