WHO worries about swine flu deaths with no underlying illness

[Pathfinder]

WHO worries about swine flu deaths with no underlying illness
46 mins ago

The World Health Organization said Tuesday it was worried that up to a quarter of the fatal swine flu cases in the Western Pacific were patients with no underlying medical condition.

By September 19, an estimated 25 percent of the 352 death cases reported in the region had no prior medical problems, the WHO announced at its Western Pacific annual conference in Hong Kong.

"That worries us very much. We are looking into it," Takeshi Kasai, the organisation's regional adviser on communicable disease surveillance and response, told the media on the sidelines of the conference.

In other regions the proportion of swine flu fatalities with no underlying medical condition ranged from 20 to 50 percent, he said.

Kasai said one of the more plausible hypotheses virologists had come up with was that the virus replicated more rapidly in those patients.

He said that the WHO was also concerned that young adults were dying of swine flu, while small children and elderly people tend to be the main groups that succumb to seasonal influenza.

The West Pacific region covers 37 countries and extends from China and Mongolia to Australia, New Zealand and French Polynesia.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20090922/thl-who-worries-about-swine-flu-deaths-w-5effa79_1.html

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: WHO worries about swine flu deaths with no underlying illness

I'm surprised this statement didn't include comments on the Australian research showing low IgG2 levels. See:
http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125480&highlight=IgG2

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[Giuseppe]

Re: WHO worries about swine flu deaths with no underlying illness

I am surprised too: whether an underlying condition is promptly detected in an acute epidemic setting remains to be established.

In the most of cases, no necroscopic examinations were performed in these patients, even in affluent countries.

Further, it is well possible that a considerable portion of the individuals died for H1N1 2009 were actually otherwise healthy, with no chronic conditions or debilitation due to - for example - a cancer.

But this is not enough: some settings (ie tropical and equatorial regions) see widespread dispersion of other viral and parasitic pathogens.

If a couple of week before an individual fell ill with flu, this one caught dengue fever or dysentery or has had a bout of malaria, what are the consequence in terms of immunity when challenged with panflu?

In addition, it is difficult to establish whether a patient in critical condition had in the recent past contact with dengue, malaria, cholera, diarrhea pathogens or another of the jungle of neglected tropical illness.

So, why does the WHO says for certainty that a quarter if not a third of deceased by H1N1 2009 were free of other illness?

It is a situation similar to H5N1: lacking of clinical records, coupled with post-mortem examination results unavailable for assessment, puts the entire issue into a faulty perspective.

Pandemic influenza can kill people healthy in a couple of days, as seen in the past (1918, 1957, 1968 and for H5N1).

However, the concurrent hosts' status plays a central role for the development of a fatal clinical outcome.

Our problem is to have a more clear picture than now.

South East Asia experiences widespread outbreaks of dengue fever, and dengue hemorrhagic fever, malaria, cholera, tubercolosis, HIV/AIDS, parasitic diseases and measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, EV-71...

Malnutrition, overcrowded communities, lack of potable water and sanitation.

Derelicted health care services infrastructures.

And, finally, our poor knowledge of influenza pathogenesis and scarce pharmaceutical arsenal.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: WHO worries about swine flu deaths with no underlying illness

However, the concurrent hosts' status plays a central role for the development of a fatal clinical outcome.

There are not enough research resources allocated to treatments/preventative measures that don't produce big profits for big corporations.

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