http://www.katu.com/news/local/63910177.html
Health officials want public to take H1N1 threat seriously
Story Published: Oct 9, 2009 at 9:51 PM PDT
Story Updated: Oct 9, 2009 at 9:51 PM PDT
By Anna Song KATU News and KATU.com Staff
Video
PORTLAND, Ore. ? Local health officials said Friday that people need to take the H1N1 flu threat more seriously.
The local response to the Swine Flu has ramped up recently because children are back in school and the number of cases have been picking up within the last couple of weeks. Just since Sept. 1, Oregon has seen 48 hospitalizations for the H1N1 virus and three people have died from it, according to the Oregon Health Division.
?I think there?s a misconception that influenza is a trivial disease. It?s not,? said Dr. Paul Cieslak, Oregon?s medical director of immunizations. He said he wants people to pay attention to the warnings being issued about H1N1 because it is worse than the common cold and puts patients on their backs for five to seven days.
?About one percent of people who get influenza get hospitalized,? he said. ?If influenza spreads throughout Oregon, one percent of people getting hospitalized is a lot. The hospitals are already feeling it.?
At a Northeast Portland command center for the H1N1 virus, a local hospital asked the state for 200,000 extra masks. Health officials said the state has a stockpile, but it could run out quickly if the number of cases rises much higher.
As far as the safety of vaccines, Cieslak acknowledged that one of the two types is a live form of H1N1. He addressed the concerns about the other.
??There are limited number of doses of the nasal mist, which is a live, weakened virus that?s recommended for healthy people two to 49 years of age,? he said. ?Most of the vaccine will be the flu shot that we?re all used to. It cannot cause the flu. It?s a killed, chopped up virus that will make your body have an immune response, but it cannot give you the flu. If you don?t get the vaccine, you?re much more likely to get the flu, so the good money bet is, get the vaccine.?
State officials said doses of the vaccine are trickling in right now, but they expect that within the month, they will have much more. And at some point they?ll have enough for everyone.
Officials say pregnant women, people older than six months and up to 24, and older people with chronic medical conditions should check with their doctors about how to get the vaccine.
Also, for those who don?t have a personal doctor watch for information in the coming days and weeks about other places to get the vaccine.
Right now, 10 counties in Oregon have had people go to the hospital because of the flu. The newest county to report a flu-related hospitalization is Jackson in southern Oregon. The state Health Division said 99 percent of those flu cases are the Swine Flu.
There have also been 32 hospitalizations in western Washington.
http://www.flu.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/acd/swineflu_investigation.shtml
Total 84
Evidently the digits (in red) are transposed in the story above.
From the start of the pandemic in late April, the Oregon DOH reports
200 hospitalizations and 15 deaths, as of October 9, 2009 update.
Almost all of the influenza viruses identified since September 1, 2009 are pandemic H1N1 influenza.
Health officials want public to take H1N1 threat seriously
Story Published: Oct 9, 2009 at 9:51 PM PDT
Story Updated: Oct 9, 2009 at 9:51 PM PDT
By Anna Song KATU News and KATU.com Staff
Video
PORTLAND, Ore. ? Local health officials said Friday that people need to take the H1N1 flu threat more seriously.
The local response to the Swine Flu has ramped up recently because children are back in school and the number of cases have been picking up within the last couple of weeks. Just since Sept. 1, Oregon has seen 48 hospitalizations for the H1N1 virus and three people have died from it, according to the Oregon Health Division.
?I think there?s a misconception that influenza is a trivial disease. It?s not,? said Dr. Paul Cieslak, Oregon?s medical director of immunizations. He said he wants people to pay attention to the warnings being issued about H1N1 because it is worse than the common cold and puts patients on their backs for five to seven days.
?About one percent of people who get influenza get hospitalized,? he said. ?If influenza spreads throughout Oregon, one percent of people getting hospitalized is a lot. The hospitals are already feeling it.?
At a Northeast Portland command center for the H1N1 virus, a local hospital asked the state for 200,000 extra masks. Health officials said the state has a stockpile, but it could run out quickly if the number of cases rises much higher.
As far as the safety of vaccines, Cieslak acknowledged that one of the two types is a live form of H1N1. He addressed the concerns about the other.
??There are limited number of doses of the nasal mist, which is a live, weakened virus that?s recommended for healthy people two to 49 years of age,? he said. ?Most of the vaccine will be the flu shot that we?re all used to. It cannot cause the flu. It?s a killed, chopped up virus that will make your body have an immune response, but it cannot give you the flu. If you don?t get the vaccine, you?re much more likely to get the flu, so the good money bet is, get the vaccine.?
State officials said doses of the vaccine are trickling in right now, but they expect that within the month, they will have much more. And at some point they?ll have enough for everyone.
Officials say pregnant women, people older than six months and up to 24, and older people with chronic medical conditions should check with their doctors about how to get the vaccine.
Also, for those who don?t have a personal doctor watch for information in the coming days and weeks about other places to get the vaccine.
Right now, 10 counties in Oregon have had people go to the hospital because of the flu. The newest county to report a flu-related hospitalization is Jackson in southern Oregon. The state Health Division said 99 percent of those flu cases are the Swine Flu.
There have also been 32 hospitalizations in western Washington.
http://www.flu.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/acd/swineflu_investigation.shtml
Total 84
Evidently the digits (in red) are transposed in the story above.
From the start of the pandemic in late April, the Oregon DOH reports
200 hospitalizations and 15 deaths, as of October 9, 2009 update.
Almost all of the influenza viruses identified since September 1, 2009 are pandemic H1N1 influenza.
