Deadly pneumonia in swine-flu outbreak hit young hard

[CHIMO]

Source: CBC News

More than two-thirds of people with severe pneumonia in the first days of Mexico's swine flu outbreak were between the ages of five and 59, researchers reported Wednesday.

In an early online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Mexico and the U.S. looked at 2,155 cases of severe swine flu among people confirmed with H1N1 virus infection.

Of these, 71 per cent of the cases were neither very young nor old, compared with an average of 32 per cent for seasonal flu.

And 87 per cent of the deaths recorded between the study period of March 24 and April 29 were patients between the ages of 5 and 59, compared with an average rate of 17 per cent for seasonal flu.



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/06/29/swine-flu-research.html

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Last Updated: Monday, June 29, 2009 | 5:53 PM ET

[kestrel91316]

1. Why it didn't behave this way in other countries is still a mystery.

Other than the Mexico deaths, it's nearly harmless.

[Ian David]

4. Maybe spicy food irritates the sinuses and makes it worse?

Let's see what happens in Thailand.

[lindisfarne]

2. CBS's pointless stats: they never tell you how many total deaths. If there were 15 deaths,

the statistics mean something different than if there were 1,500 deaths. The bigger the number, the more likely the percent breakdown by age is meaningful.

[Auggie]

3. H1N1 may be similar to a flu strain that swept the world in the late 70's.

There's a theory that people above a certain age have an immunity of sorts to this virus, but those born after the late '70's do not. That's why the young are getting it.

ScienceDaily (June 25, 2009) — A letter to the editor by Rhode Island Hospital infectious diseases specialist Leonard Mermel, DO, identifies characteristics of the outbreak of H1N1 in 1977 and speculates its impact on this pandemic.

Mermel notes that in the late 1970s, an influenza H1N1 reappeared in humans. It had a pandemic-like spread that began in younger aged individuals. This strain, known as the "Russian flu" H1N1, was similar to H1N1 strains that circulated internationally between 1946 and 1957. The Russian flu spread rapidly across the former Soviet Union, initially affecting individuals between the ages of 14 and 20 in schools, as well as young military personnel, and later spread to preschool children. Individuals older than age 30, however, had dramatically lower attack rates and the overall mortality was low. The epidemic peaked rapidly, with a relatively short duration.

In the United States, the first outbreak of the Russian flu occurred in a Wyoming high school. The attack rate there was over 70 percent, however, it affected students only; no faculty were reported to have the illness. High attack rates were seen in schools as well as military bases throughout the United States, similar to the outbreak in Russia. There were few reports of the H1N1 strain in individuals older than age 26, and again, the mortality rate was low.

In his commentary, Mermel hypothesizes that the H1N1 strain circulating now may have enough similarity to the previously circulating H1N1 strains or the H1N1 used in past vaccines so that it may lead to protection of older individuals. He concludes by noting that the weeks ahead should help us to determine if this will be the case.

LINK: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618200931.htm

[madrchsod]

5. most of the -reported- cases in illinois are children

[xchrom]

6. recommend

[quidam56]

7. The filthy, greedy health care system is killing us,

Wait until MRSA/VRE and the flu mixes. www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=62 I know what is called quality health care in TN & VA, clearly profit comes ahead of people.

[Moondog]

8. More and more this is sounding like the way the flu pandemic of 1918 progressed.

[Bearware]

9. Arsenic (I don't know about old lace though)

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/150938.php :9