Re: Portugal deaths from influenza A - total 104
Re: Portugal deaths from influenza A - total 104
http://www.rcmpharma.com/news/6654/51/Um-quinto-das-mortes-por-gripe-A-foi-em-pessoas-saudaveis.html
Portuguese to English translation
Fifth of deaths from influenza A in healthy people
It is estimated that the influenza A could cause more than ten thousand deaths in Portugal, however, reached the first corner of the pandemic is still far from being able throughout ensures that there will be a second, the country is only now crossed the 100 deaths related to the new strain of H1N1, according to the newspaper P?blico. Still, the pulmonologist Filipe Froes warns that, unlike seasonal flu, the deaths occurred in people "tend to be young", and 19 of the 105 deaths recorded so far had no risk factor that could do predict this outcome.
Despite not having the expected severity, one of the predictions came true: the pandemic virus eventually eclipse the seasonal strains that almost every year round. What made one was far fewer cases of seasonal flu and therefore much less deaths. Last year at this time, according to the Instituto Ricardo Jorge, seasonal flu had caused more than a thousand deaths in a total of 700 thousand infected.
For this winter, there is no data - just the perception that they are miniature cases that reach the health services. The calculation for the seasonal incidence of viruses is done in a different way. Look at the mortality in winter and is attributed to seasonal influenza excess deaths that occurred in this phase compared with other times of the year.
Children affected
But for the pulmonologist at Hospital Pulido Valente, Lisbon, "can not compare apples with oranges. In seasonal influenza, 80% of deaths occur in people over 75 years. This, 43 of 105 deaths occurred between 37 and 54 years. A recent study published in the journal Eurosurveillance based on preliminary data from seven European countries shows that this year killed more than 28 percent of children. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta also points to ten times more deaths among children.
"The flu has two very different epidemiological characteristics. With influenza A, we have many years of life lost. If a child dies at age eight, meaning that lost someone who had a lifetime ahead. There are healthy people who died of a moment's notice , "says Filipe Froes the public, stressing the importance of the population adhere to the vaccination campaign.
In the Azores, immunization Monday was extended to the entire population, but on the Continent, Minister Ana Jorge said last week that health authorities will continue to focus on 30% of the original objectives, even though it has only 500 thousand Portuguese received the vaccine .
Also M?rio Carreira, coordinator of the Emergency Unit of Public Health, Directorate General of Health, stresses that the question of mortality "is not the number but in kind." And argues that "this year there was no seasonal flu," since, besides the new H1N1 virus, the other strains that circulated "never had an epidemiological spread." On the possibility that we will have a second wave pandemic - as has happened in other countries - believes it is too early to make predictions and a reminder that the flu peaks often occur in late autumn and late winter, so it makes sense to say that "The virus like the cold" and that this year the weather helped us.
2010-02-09 | 15:20
