NZ Swine flu: patient in intensive care

[Sally Furniss]

Swine flu: patient in intensive care
By MARTY SHARPE - The Dominion Post
Last updated 16:13 29/06/2009

A patient with swine flu is in a critical condition in Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital.

Hawke's Bay District Health Board spokeswoman Anna Kirk would not release any details on the patient other to say they were admitted to the intensive care unit on Thursday, and that the swine flu diagnosis was confirmed on Friday night.

The DHB has eleven confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1) and two probable cases.

The hospital has been swamped with people suffering respiratory illness and has been forced to postpone all elective surgery this week.

Intensive Care clinical director Ross Freebairn said the severity of some patients with acute respiratory illness at the hospital has meant some of these patients have needed to be managed in the Intensive Care-High Dependency Unit.

Dr Freebairn said as a result visiting to the unit would be strictly limited to one immediate family member at all times during visiting hours.

Dr Freebairn said he apologised for any difficulty this placed on families but it was an essential part of infection control within the hospital at this time.

Visitors to the unit would be asked to use hand-sanitising gel, which was available at the entrance and within the unit, on entering and leaving the unit.

Children aged under 15 would not be permitted to enter the unit and to prevent further infections visitors with colds or flu-like symptoms would not be able to visit patients, he said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/hawkes-bay/2550079/Swine-flu-patient-in-intensive-care

 

[Shiloh]

Re: NZ Swine flu: patient in intensive care

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/06/29/1245b6d0f3ff

Second person in intensive care with swine flu

Updated at 10:31pm on 29 June 2009

A second person in New Zealand has been admitted to an intensive care unit with swine flu.

The patient is in Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital in a critical condition on Monday. A Wellington woman remains stable in intensive care at Wellington Hospital.

Hawke's Bay DHB says the patient was admitted to the hospital in Hastings last Thursday suffering from a respiratory condition.

The hospital's clinical director, Ross Freebairn, says there will be restricted access to the unit due to the infectious nature of the H1N1 virus.

Dr Freebairn says children under the age of 15 will not be permitted to visit the unit, even if they have a family member who is ill. Just one immediate family member will be allowed during visiting hours.

There are 11 confirmed and two probable cases of the virus in Hawke's Bay, while nationally, the number of confirmed cases of the virus increased to 587 on Monday.

The official tally, which underestimates actual cases, is an increase of 64 confirmed cases since Sunday.

In Australia, two men with underlying medical conditions have died in the state of Victoria after contracting swine flu. Australia's tally of swine flu-related deaths is now seven.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: NZ Swine flu: patient in intensive care

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/06/30/1245b6dec063

Woman critically ill with swine flu

Updated at 9:49am on 30 June 2009

A woman in her early 20s is critically ill in intensive care at Hawke's Bay regional hospital with swine flu.

Hawke's Bay District Health Board says the woman was admitted to intensive care last Thursday. Swine flu was confirmed on Friday.

The case is the second intensive care admission in New Zealand because of swine flu. A woman, 30, is stable in intensive care at Wellington Hospital.

She has underlying medical conditions.

 

[thebes]

Re: NZ Swine flu: patient in intensive care

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/2553923/Flu-patient-fights-for-her-life

A woman fighting for her life in Hawke's Bay Hospital may be the first otherwise healthy New Zealander to become critically ill with swine flu.

The woman, in her early twenties, was diagnosed on Friday and is New Zealand's second critical case.

Authorities are refusing to say whether she had a pre-existing medical condition.

Another woman, 30, has been in a critical but stable condition at Wellington Hospital for more than a week. Existing health problems may have made her case more acute.

New Zealand cases of the virus rose to 653 yesterday, up from 589.

Hawke's Bay District Health Board refused to confirm whether the woman had an underlying medical condition before contracting the virus, like the Wellington patient.

The two women are among a rising number of younger critical cases across the world. More than 300 people have died from swine flu so far.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine yesterday raised concerns that swine flu is affecting more young people than seasonal influenza.

Co-author Gerardo Chowell-Puente said nearly 90 per cent of those who had died from the virus had been aged between five and 59, compared with 17 per cent during recent flu seasons.

Governments tended to provide flu vaccines to the very young and very old, but a different strategy might be needed during an influenza pandemic, Dr Chowell-Puente said.

However, Canterbury Health Laboratories virologist Lance Jennings said influenza deaths in younger, otherwise healthy, people did happen.

"Some people are more susceptible than others and we don't fully understand why."

Meanwhile, a Wellington childcare centre has closed until Friday after a staff member contracted swine flu.

TVNZ reported that two other staff members at First Five in Porirua were ill and several children had flu-like symptoms.

Regional Public Health said the centre shut because of a staff shortage.