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Health secretary: Deaths make flu planning serious
By SUE MAJOR HOLMES Associated Press Writer
Posted: 10/02/2009 11:10:19 AM MDT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.?State Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil said Friday it's time for New Mexicans to get serious about swine flu?but not to panic.
The reality of the illness was emphasized with Thursday's announcement that swine flu recently killed two children in the state?a 5-year-old girl who attended Rio Rancho Elementary School and a baby girl from Roosevelt County. Neither had a health condition that would mean a greater risk for complications, health officials said.
"All of us have a little ache in our heart this morning for the children," Vigil said in opening a daylong conference on managing and mitigating pandemic influenza in New Mexico.
"I think all of us are parents or grandparents or aunts or uncles and we can only imagine what it must be like to lose a precious jewel from our own family. ... The important purpose it serves is to remind us that we're not here to discuss some kind of empty, academic exercise," Vigil said. "The issue is very serious."
Kimberley Vesely, a spokeswoman for the Rio Rancho school district, said individual schools reported absentee rates Friday of 7 percent to 13 percent, which she called "high but not extraordinary."
"As far as any parents keeping students home because of concern there's been a death, it's very small, maybe one or two a school," she said.
New Mexico is seeing more cases of influenza-like illnesses than normal this early in the year, and health officials expect a
heavy flu season, Vigil said. Current cases are being attributed to the swine flu virus, but officials say seasonal flu will increase in October or November.
The advice for swine flu remains the same as when it arrived in the spring: wash hands often, stay home if you're feeling ill, keep kids home if they're sick, and cough or sneeze into your sleeve or arm.
Although the virus does hit children more than older people, it does not behave more aggressively than seasonal flu, Vigil said.
With any illness, he said, "there are rare or unusual cases where things happen suddenly and unpredictably."
Seasonal flu kills 30,000 to 35,000 people in the U.S. every year, Vigil said.
Health officials say most children who are ill can stay home and not see a doctor. Vigil said parents should take their child in if the illness seems more serious, if the child looks dehydrated, isn't thinking clearly and cannot hold down liquids.
"This is serious; it is not a time to panic," Vigil said. "It's just a time to take recommendations seriously, listen to those recommendations and follow them."
The state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are not counting the numbers of flulike cases. Many people who become ill do not go to the doctor, and those who do aren't necessarily tested.
But New Mexico officials can say swine flu?also called the 2009 H1N1 strain?has caused seven deaths in the state, including the two children and a 21-year-old woman without a chronic medical condition. The other four people had underlying health conditions.
State epidemiologist Dr. C. Mack Sewell said steps toward prevention are important because "we're going to see a lot of disease activity before we see a lot of vaccine."
Hand-washing is one of the most effective ways to prevent spreading the virus, and "it's now socially acceptable to cough into your sleeve," he said.
Seasonal flu vaccine already is available, and swine flu vaccine will begin arriving in batches in a couple of weeks. Vigil did not have the number of doses allocated to New Mexico but expects a third of the swine flu vaccine this month, with the rest in November and December.
Dr. Maggi Gallaher, medical director of the state Public Health Division, said the first swine flu vaccine shipment to New Mexico would be less than 12,000 doses?"not a lot to go around." Vaccine allocations are based on population, and New Mexico has less than 1 percent of the U.S. population.
"It will take time for quantities of vaccine to reach the levels everyone would like to have," Sewell said.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_13471065#
By SUE MAJOR HOLMES Associated Press Writer
Posted: 10/02/2009 11:10:19 AM MDT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.?State Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil said Friday it's time for New Mexicans to get serious about swine flu?but not to panic.
The reality of the illness was emphasized with Thursday's announcement that swine flu recently killed two children in the state?a 5-year-old girl who attended Rio Rancho Elementary School and a baby girl from Roosevelt County. Neither had a health condition that would mean a greater risk for complications, health officials said.
"All of us have a little ache in our heart this morning for the children," Vigil said in opening a daylong conference on managing and mitigating pandemic influenza in New Mexico.
"I think all of us are parents or grandparents or aunts or uncles and we can only imagine what it must be like to lose a precious jewel from our own family. ... The important purpose it serves is to remind us that we're not here to discuss some kind of empty, academic exercise," Vigil said. "The issue is very serious."
Kimberley Vesely, a spokeswoman for the Rio Rancho school district, said individual schools reported absentee rates Friday of 7 percent to 13 percent, which she called "high but not extraordinary."
"As far as any parents keeping students home because of concern there's been a death, it's very small, maybe one or two a school," she said.
New Mexico is seeing more cases of influenza-like illnesses than normal this early in the year, and health officials expect a
heavy flu season, Vigil said. Current cases are being attributed to the swine flu virus, but officials say seasonal flu will increase in October or November.
The advice for swine flu remains the same as when it arrived in the spring: wash hands often, stay home if you're feeling ill, keep kids home if they're sick, and cough or sneeze into your sleeve or arm.
Although the virus does hit children more than older people, it does not behave more aggressively than seasonal flu, Vigil said.
With any illness, he said, "there are rare or unusual cases where things happen suddenly and unpredictably."
Seasonal flu kills 30,000 to 35,000 people in the U.S. every year, Vigil said.
Health officials say most children who are ill can stay home and not see a doctor. Vigil said parents should take their child in if the illness seems more serious, if the child looks dehydrated, isn't thinking clearly and cannot hold down liquids.
"This is serious; it is not a time to panic," Vigil said. "It's just a time to take recommendations seriously, listen to those recommendations and follow them."
The state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are not counting the numbers of flulike cases. Many people who become ill do not go to the doctor, and those who do aren't necessarily tested.
But New Mexico officials can say swine flu?also called the 2009 H1N1 strain?has caused seven deaths in the state, including the two children and a 21-year-old woman without a chronic medical condition. The other four people had underlying health conditions.
State epidemiologist Dr. C. Mack Sewell said steps toward prevention are important because "we're going to see a lot of disease activity before we see a lot of vaccine."
Hand-washing is one of the most effective ways to prevent spreading the virus, and "it's now socially acceptable to cough into your sleeve," he said.
Seasonal flu vaccine already is available, and swine flu vaccine will begin arriving in batches in a couple of weeks. Vigil did not have the number of doses allocated to New Mexico but expects a third of the swine flu vaccine this month, with the rest in November and December.
Dr. Maggi Gallaher, medical director of the state Public Health Division, said the first swine flu vaccine shipment to New Mexico would be less than 12,000 doses?"not a lot to go around." Vaccine allocations are based on population, and New Mexico has less than 1 percent of the U.S. population.
"It will take time for quantities of vaccine to reach the levels everyone would like to have," Sewell said.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_13471065#