Rochester, NY Significantly Under-Reporting H1N1 cases

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Reported 6/15/09 by WHEC News 10 in Rochester, NY:

Last week, Dr. Ed Walsh, the head of infectious disease at Rochester General Hospital, told News 10NBC that his lab has handled more than 200 flu samples recently and most have tested positive for the H1N1 strain. Officially, the health department confirms only 18 cases in Monroe County.

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S979603.shtml?cat=565


**I couldn't find a link to the original interview with Dr. Walsh, but if he was reporting a significant portion of 200 tests coming back positive as of last week, at that time Monroe County was officially reporting 11 cases. As of Monday 6/15 the number is 19.

 

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Followup: Rochester, NY Significantly Under-Reporting H1N1 cases

Followup: Rochester, NY Significantly Under-Reporting H1N1 cases

Found the original interview with Dr. Ed Walsh. Better late than never I guess. Reported 6/11/09 by WHEC in Rochester, NY:


Local doctor estimates hundreds of unconfirmed swine flu cases


It's the first global flu epidemic in 41 years. The World Health Organization is now calling swine flu a pandemic. The Monroe County Health Department says 11 cases have been confirmed but one local doctor estimates there are hundreds of unconfirmed cases.

Doctor Ed Walsh is the head of infectious disease for Rochester General Hospital. He says in the last 12 days, the hospital lab has handled about 200 flu samples and most if not all of those cases have tested positive for the H1-N1 virus.

Walsh says there is no reason to be concerned or alarmed. He says most of the flu in the community is swine flu. He says local cases seemed to peak in late April, disappear in May and increase dramatically over the past 12 days.

Walsh says there is no way to know the exact number of local cases. He estimates there are hundreds of cases. He says it’s circulating primarily among school age children and young adults.

So what should you do if you get it? “Wash their hands, stay away from ill individuals and if they do become ill they should stay low - stay in their house.”

Dr. Walsh also says there is no reason to be alarmed. He says while the H1-N1 virus can cause you to feel quite ill, the virus is not very severe compared to other strains of influenza.


http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S974026.shtml?cat=572

 

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Re: Followup: Rochester, NY Significantly Under-Reporting H1N1 cases

Re: Followup: Rochester, NY Significantly Under-Reporting H1N1 cases

Found the original interview with Dr. Ed Walsh. Better late than never I guess. Reported 6/11/09 by WHEC in Rochester, NY:


Local doctor estimates hundreds of unconfirmed swine flu cases


Dr. Walsh also says there is no reason to be alarmed. He says while the H1-N1 virus can cause you to feel quite ill, the virus is not very severe compared to other strains of influenza.


http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S974026.shtml?cat=572

But one student is dead and another is on life support (with no reported pre-esisting conditions) in adjacent Erie county, and the Erie County Board of Health published a map with confirmed H1n1 cases in 37 Zip Codes with a DISCLAIMER noting that the real incidence of pandemic H1N1 was likely to be markedly higher than the confirmed cases are likely to be in zip codes that have not yet recorded a confirmed case.

 

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Re: Rochester, NY Significantly Under-Reporting H1N1 cases

good points niman. I imagine as the summer drags on and more people are killed, many doctors will be changing their tune.