tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Taranaki has been hard hit by the second wave of swine flu this winter, says the region's medical officer of health.
Incidences of the H1N1 virus are now abating across the country after peaking in late July.
Taranaki is believed to have at least one death linked to the virus.
"It's been a bad winter for influenza type illness this winter.
"The verdict is the second wave has been worse for Taranaki," medical officer Dr Greg Simmons said yesterday.
While some people were only mildly affected, there were also those people who had become very sick with pneumonia, he said.
Children had been particularly affected this year.
"Anecdotally there has been quite a level of absenteeism in the schools. But it's over now. We've had the second peak and we haven't had a notification for a least two weeks."
Other bugs were also circulating, such as respiratory syncitial virus, which caused a runny nose, sinus and headache, he said.
To date this year there had been 50 cases of H1N1 in Taranaki, 45 of which were confirmed while five were probable, he said.
Of those 50, 15 were admitted to hospital and four ended up in the intensive care unit.
Last year there was also one death among the 33 reported cases of H1N1 and five were admitted to hospital.
It was discovered last year that pregnant women and severely overweight people were more at risk from the virus. In Taranaki this year at least two pregnant women contracted the virus. They and their babies had survived, he said.
Fortunately there had been a lot more immunity in New Zealand this winter both because of exposure last year and because of the the higher level of vaccination.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/4152887/Swine-flu-in-region-hits-hard
Incidences of the H1N1 virus are now abating across the country after peaking in late July.
Taranaki is believed to have at least one death linked to the virus.
"It's been a bad winter for influenza type illness this winter.
"The verdict is the second wave has been worse for Taranaki," medical officer Dr Greg Simmons said yesterday.
While some people were only mildly affected, there were also those people who had become very sick with pneumonia, he said.
Children had been particularly affected this year.
"Anecdotally there has been quite a level of absenteeism in the schools. But it's over now. We've had the second peak and we haven't had a notification for a least two weeks."
Other bugs were also circulating, such as respiratory syncitial virus, which caused a runny nose, sinus and headache, he said.
To date this year there had been 50 cases of H1N1 in Taranaki, 45 of which were confirmed while five were probable, he said.
Of those 50, 15 were admitted to hospital and four ended up in the intensive care unit.
Last year there was also one death among the 33 reported cases of H1N1 and five were admitted to hospital.
It was discovered last year that pregnant women and severely overweight people were more at risk from the virus. In Taranaki this year at least two pregnant women contracted the virus. They and their babies had survived, he said.
Fortunately there had been a lot more immunity in New Zealand this winter both because of exposure last year and because of the the higher level of vaccination.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/4152887/Swine-flu-in-region-hits-hard