Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
Two more people die of swine flu, bringing toll to 49
By Dan Even
Two people died from swine flu yesterday. Neither had any apparent complications.
Both patients, a 51-year-old woman from Upper Nazareth and a 36-year-old man from Holon, died despite receiving the experimental anti-flu drug Peramivir.
This brings Israel's death toll from the H1N1 virus to 49, including six people with no prior medical conditions.
The woman had no known preexisting health conditions. She came to the emergency room at Haemek Hospital in Afula complaining of shortness of breath and general weakness on November 9, but refused to be hospitalized, hospital sources said. Two days later she returned, and was hospitalized with pneumonia.
Tests showed she had swine flu, and she was treated with Tamiflu. However, her situation deteriorated, so she was given Peramivir yesterday. She passed away in intensive care several hours later.
The Holon man died in Wolfson Medical Center in Holon yesterday, after spending three weeks in the hospital. He had had prior illnesses.
Peramivir is an experimental intravenous drug used to treat people with serious complications from swine flu, and has been in use in Israel for only a few weeks. Last week, Rambam Medical Center in Haifa reported the new drug had saved the life of the first person who received it in Israel, Kamal Halabi, 30.
At the same time the Health Ministry is slowing expanding the list of those eligible for swine flu vaccinations. So far, 45,000 people have been vaccinated
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1128721.html
By Dan Even
Two people died from swine flu yesterday. Neither had any apparent complications.
Both patients, a 51-year-old woman from Upper Nazareth and a 36-year-old man from Holon, died despite receiving the experimental anti-flu drug Peramivir.
This brings Israel's death toll from the H1N1 virus to 49, including six people with no prior medical conditions.
The woman had no known preexisting health conditions. She came to the emergency room at Haemek Hospital in Afula complaining of shortness of breath and general weakness on November 9, but refused to be hospitalized, hospital sources said. Two days later she returned, and was hospitalized with pneumonia.
Tests showed she had swine flu, and she was treated with Tamiflu. However, her situation deteriorated, so she was given Peramivir yesterday. She passed away in intensive care several hours later.
The Holon man died in Wolfson Medical Center in Holon yesterday, after spending three weeks in the hospital. He had had prior illnesses.
Peramivir is an experimental intravenous drug used to treat people with serious complications from swine flu, and has been in use in Israel for only a few weeks. Last week, Rambam Medical Center in Haifa reported the new drug had saved the life of the first person who received it in Israel, Kamal Halabi, 30.
At the same time the Health Ministry is slowing expanding the list of those eligible for swine flu vaccinations. So far, 45,000 people have been vaccinated
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1128721.html