Two more deaths bring Utah's A/H1N1 death toll to 8

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_12607907

Swine flu: Two more deaths bring Utah's H1N1 death toll to 8

By Heather May

The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 06/17/2009 10:13:34 AM MDT

Two more Utahns have died after testing positive for the H1N1 swine flu, including the first death outside of Salt Lake County.

The deaths bring the state's total to eight, state epidemiologist Robert Rolfs told lawmakers today at a Health and Human Services interim committee meeting.

He did not specify the other county where a death occurred, deferring to an expected announcement by local health officials.

Utah has "one of, if not the most, active outbreaks in the country," he said. One theory about the prevalence here is that Utah generally has a younger population, and older people who have been exposed to several flus appear to have antibodies that help protect them, he said.

Still, the new flu is considered a "very mild pandemic," with most illnesses mild, Rolfs added.

Statewide, 29 flu patients have been hospitalized.

The number of deaths and hospitalizations could change this afternoon, when the state releases its official weekly report.

 

[Chuck]

Re: Two more deaths bring Utah's A/H1N1 death toll to 8

http://www.clippertoday.com/pages/f...instance=secondary_stories_left_column&open=&

DAILY FLASH! County has first swine flu death
by Melinda Williams
Jun 17, 2009 | 1 views | 0 0 comments | 0 0 recommendations | email to a friend | print

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FARMINGTON ?Davis County health officials said Wednesday the county likely has had its first death from the H1N1 swine flu virus.

?This is an H1N1 associated death,? Davis County Health Director Lewis Garrett said. ?We don?t yet have an official cause of death from the Medical Examiner?s Office, but he tested positive so it?s pretty likely.?

The victim has only been identified as a male between 25 and 50.

He is the eighth Utahn to die as a result of the virus.The other seven have all been Salt Lake County residents.

Garrett couldn?t release much information about the victim, but did say the man was not hospitalized at the time of his passing.

See full story in June 18 Clipper

 

[thebes]

Re: Two more deaths bring Utah's A/H1N1 death toll to 8

Two more deaths bring Utah's H1N1 death toll to 8
By Heather May

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 06/17/2009 05:22:17 PM MDT


Robert Rolfs, Utah state epidemiologist, speaks to the Health and Human Services Interim committee Thursday on the public health response to the H1N1 flu outbreak.

A Davis County man and a Salt Lake County woman, both between the ages of 25 and 50, died Saturday, bringing the state's total to eight. Five deaths have also occurred among adults in the same age range, and a child under 18 has also died.

Utah has "one of, if not the most, active outbreaks in the country," state epidemiologist Robert Rolfs said Wednesday. And it's not clear why.

Last week, the CDC reported 44 deaths nationwide. A new total will be released Friday.

While H1N1 deaths are far fewer than the estimated 300 annual Utah deaths caused by seasonal flu -- which don't generate nearly as much attention -- Rolfs said there are three reasons to take H1N1 seriously:

? It is affecting young people, from children to people in their 50s, while seasonal flu mainly affects the very young and people older than 65.

? H1N1 is continuing to spread during the summer, when seasonal flu is dormant.

? Even if the spread dies down this summer, history shows pandemics return in a more severe form in the fall and winter. "A lot of what we're concerned about is its potential," Rolfs said.

Another challenge around the corner: When the vaccine now in development becomes available, there won't be enough for everyone. "It will have to be prioritized," he said.

Federal officials are still figuring out who should get the upcoming vaccine, which would be distributed through public clinics, not private doctors, to ensure the approved populations get it, Rolfs said.

He said people will need two doses, in addition to a seasonal flu shot. And officials will have to maintain public confidence in the vaccine when those inoculated report side effects, he said. In 1976, a mass vaccination against a different swine flu led to reports of people being paralyzed, even as the outbreak never materialized.

Rolfs said there is an "emerging belief" that inoculating school-aged children will limit the transmission in the general population. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the Associated Press she has urged school superintendents to prepare to use their schools as shot clinics if the government decides to mass vaccinate.

Federal officials will decide who should get the vaccine based in part on how the novel virus behaves in the Southern Hemisphere this summer, where the flu season is just starting, she said.

The Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis AG recently announced it has produced a first batch of vaccine weeks ahead of expectations, according to the AP. It will be used for testing. More than 30 governments have requested vaccine supplies, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, which placed a $289 million order in May.

The state health department reported Wednesday that 129 flu patients have been hospitalized. That's 39 more than the last time hospitalizations were reported on Thursday. Four have been among health care workers and 11 patients were pregnant. By comparison, 255 Utahns have been hospitalized for seasonal flu since the end of September.

For now, H1N1 is still considered a "mild" pandemic, with most of the ill recovering.

Based on its generic pandemic flu plan, Utah public health officials would consider 1,700 deaths a year to be a "moderate" pandemic and 16,000 deaths "severe." Those figures are based on population estimates and historic pandemics, and don't take into account advances in medicine.

One theory about why Utah seems to be suffering more from H1N1 is the state's younger population. Older people who have been exposed to several flus appear to have antibodies that help protect them, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nathan Dean, chief of pulmonary critical care at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray and LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, also hypothesizes that younger patients are having an "overreaction" to the virus, triggering a "vigorous inflammation response" that can cause septic shock and adult respiratory distress syndrome, which lands them in the hospital.

Local health departments are no longer reporting whether the patients who die have underlying health conditions that would have put them at higher risk for complications. Rolfs said that is because it risks breaching patient confidentiality and it can be seen as blaming the victim. Plus, many Utahns have the risk factors: being pregnant or obese, having asthma or diabetes, he noted.

 

[HenryN]

Re: Two more deaths bring Utah's A/H1N1 death toll to 8

Two more deaths bring Utah's H1N1 death toll to 8
By Heather May

The Salt Lake Tribune


Nathan Dean, chief of pulmonary critical care at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray and LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, also hypothesizes that younger patients are having an "overreaction" to the virus, triggering a "vigorous inflammation response" that can cause septic shock and adult respiratory distress syndrome, which lands them in the hospital.

How do you spell cytokine storm?

 

[JimO]

Re: Two more deaths bring Utah's A/H1N1 death toll to 8

How do you spell cytokine storm?

Aren't these folks supposed to know this stuff? I'm just a rock-headed geologist and I knew this even before this strain showed up.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Re: Two more deaths bring Utah's A/H1N1 death toll to 8

Don't worry JimO! They probably can't spell earth quack either

 

[Chuck]

Re: Two more deaths bring Utah's A/H1N1 death toll to 8

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705311399,00.html


H1N1 flu death shocks Davis County family

By Lisa Riley Roche

Deseret News
Published: Thursday, June 18, 2009 4:08 p.m. MDT

When 30-year-old Jaman Davies started feeling sick a week ago Wednesday, neither he nor anyone in his family thought it was anything serious.

But what seemed be a run-of-the-mill cold turned out to be fatal for the Centerville man.

Davies is the eighth Utahn to die from novel H1N1 influenza, commonly known as the swine flu, according to his brother-in-law, state Sen. Dan Liljenquist, R-Bountiful.

"He just started feeling a cough coming on, a sore throat, and honestly, he didn't think anything of it," Liljenquist, said. "He's not somebody who goes to the doctor very often. He just thought, 'I'll let this thing get better.'"

Davies got worse last Saturday, though, and died that day.

A real estate investor who'd never married, he'd lived with his parents for the past year. They found their oldest son in his bed that evening, Liljenquist said. Davies wasn't breathing and could not be resuscitated, he said, because his lungs had apparently filled with fluid.

Because Davies was considered morbidly obese at more than 300 pounds, his weight was blamed for his death. It wasn't until Wednesday ? a week after Davies first displayed symptoms ? that Liljenquist and other family members were notified he'd had the H1N1 flu.
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"It just seems surreal that my brother-in-law was the eight person who died" from the deadly flu, said Liljenquist said, who sits on the Legislature's health and human services appropriations subcommittee. "It didn't even cross our minds, even with all the news coverage."

Liljenquist got the news during a closed-door Senate GOP caucus Wednesday. "I felt badly," he said, because he'd shaken the hands of his fellow senators as well as many others during interim day meetings.

Many of the senators who attended the caucus headed for a dispenser of hand sanitizer on a receptionist's desk. Liljenquist, whose had a sore throat and raspy voice, said he went to the doctor to be tested for H1N1 himself.

No one in his or his wife Brooke's families have shown any signs of the flu and Liljenquist expects to receive a clean bill of health, too. His advice to anyone with symptoms is to see a doctor.

"Make sure if you're feeling sick, you get treatment and you're vigilant in how you interact with folks," Liljenquist said. "Some people think this flu is different than you would feel with a normal flu. And it's not. That's the real challenge here."

A celebration of Davies' life is set for 3 p.m. Saturday at the LDS Centerville Stake Center. Friends and family may call at Russon Brothers Mortuary in Bountiful on Friday from 6-8 p.m. and at the stake center on Saturday. Services will be at from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Liljenquist said he hopes people won't stay away from the services for his brother-in-law because of how he died. "It's out there," he said. "But you still have to live your life."