H1N1 kills 6 people, leaves 14 critically ill in Texas

AHS officials said the outbreak was first detected earlier in December at the Misericordia Hospital, and there were about three lab-confirmed cases – two of those have been confirmed as H1N1, with a handful of other suspected cases of the flu.
Health officials said at the Misericordia Hospital, about 20 percent of staff had been immunized against the flu – that number was later revised to 42 percent.

edmonton.ctvnews.ca...

I guess it's that time of year again, it's in one of the Edmonton hospitals as well.

The news on tv tonight said the number of H1N1 was up to 14 people, but no deaths or anyone near critical.

jefwane
I got the worse flu of my life, in2009 right before h1n1entered the national spotlight. Hope its return is like a cheap sequel, and not a main attraction.

Unfortunately,
The sequel is playing 10 miles down the road and killed four of the first 8 that were hospitalized there for H1N1. Now it's six dead and 14 severely ill locally. Three new H1N1 fatalities were confirmed in Houston this evening so that's nine dead from H1N1 within 50 miles of each other in the last 3 weeks.
www.chron.com...

reply to post by badgerprints


I find it interesting that the H1N1 virus was added to the flu shot this year I wonder if anyone of them had gotten it?

Let us know if you start feeling ill.

www.cbc.ca...

Public health officials say they aren't expecting the same kind of reaction to the flu strain because people have developed a level of immunity since 2009. In B.C., officials estimate about half the population has some protection.

Skowronski says this year's flu vaccine does offer protection against the H1N1 strain. She says it's too soon to quantify the effectiveness of the vaccine, though she expects it will be similar to last year's 60 per cent effectiveness, which is average.

It's good that this strain has been around already, many people will have a natural immunity if they caught it in 2009.
Especially when the flu vaccines are only approximately 60% effective....

thesaneone
reply to post by badgerprints

 

I find it interesting that the H1N1 virus was added to the flu shot this year I wonder if anyone of them had gotten it?

Let us know if you start feeling ill.

The local word was that the four confirmed deaths in Conroe regional had not gotten the flu shot. One of the fatalities had but he was apparently recovering from a surgery and got the flu which could have been from a strain not in the shot this year. I don't know if he was confirmed with H1N1 or not.

I asked the pharmacist (when I got mine) and she told me the flu shot did include H1N1 this year.

Update this morning.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius was in town Friday weighing in on the cases. Chances are someone you know is sick right now because it's going around. Flu cases are popping up all over the area and most of them are the more serious strain called H1N1, which has led to multiple deaths.

Two of the patients had underlying health issues including cardiovascular disease and obesity. Sebelius was here talking about the Affordable Care Act, but the conversation turned to the flu and H1N1 because that's what's on the minds of Texans right now. "If you remember back when H1N1 broke out the first time it appeared in the south first and spread north," Sebelius said. She said the south has been hardest this time, too. Right now the CDC is working closely with health officials in Texas to keep it from getting worse.

Source

Add Austin for confirmed cases it seems..

One person is dead in Travis County from H1N1 flu, and a second death is suspected of H1N1, the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department announced today.

That is the same strain that killed nine here in 2009, when the swine flu was classified as a pandemic.

In Montgomery County, the deaths of four people from a flu-like illness are being investigated at Conroe Regional Medical Center. None of them had a flu shot, health officials said. Five others having a similar flu-like illness in Montgomery County are still living, and two of those were confirmed to have H1N1 flu, said Jennifer Nichols-Contella, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County Public Health District. Investigations into all of those cases are continuing.

Source

Sounds like one to avoid this year and it'll be interesting to see wider numbers for what a real mortality rate comes to be this time around.

Wrabbit2000
Sounds like one to avoid this year and it'll be interesting to see wider numbers for what a real mortality rate comes to be this time around.

I'd suspect more fatalities than are reported.
This excerpt about the 2009 epidemic says that a lot more probably died back then than was reported.

Pandemic H1N1 Flu Killed Far More Than Reported: Study

Scientists now estimate 2009 toll was 15 times higher, with majority of fatalities in Africa and southeast Asia
By Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- The pandemic H1N1 flu in 2009 may have killed more than 500,000 people around the world, 15 times more than reported, a new study suggests.

During the pandemic, 18,500 laboratory-confirmed deaths were reported to the World Health Organization from April 2009 through August 2010, but as many as 575,400 may have actually died, an international group of scientists now says.

conroeregional.com.../news/NRCN666078/Pandemic-H1N1-Flu-Killed-Far-More-Than-Reported--Study

It's not going to the article, just the home page of the site. Not sure why. It's a full page explaining how they made the estimate and where the deaths were.

Really, i only wonder how many of those 6 dead and 14 in critical condition have received a flu shot this year...

I'm unclear why someone herein said the stronger the immune system the more deadly. I read the article and it didn't say anything about that. Is this a theory or a fact? I can see someone having an auto immune disorder (over active immune system) responding worse to this but a strong immune system?

Some of you speculated that this may actually be a new more virulent or reasserted strain - seems that speculation is beginning to be considered -

[The correspondent has added the following commentary in relation to the information above. "This outbreak now appears to involve an H1N1 virus. The vaccine inefficacy statement from the County health authorities press release highlights, coupled with the apparent unreliability of rapid diagnostic tests cited in media reports, suggests to me that H1N1 virus circulating in Texas may be a new [more virulent ?] drifted or reasserted strain. The current Texas state flu bulletin for week of 7-14 Dec 2013 issued today (20 Dec 2013) does not seem to discuss this issue

www.dshs.state.tx.us..." It seems likely that the fatalities observed in Texas are due to a possibly more virulent strain of the seasonal H1N1 influenza virus, rather than a novel pathogenic agent. Further information is awaited to substantiate this conclusion. - Mod.CP]

www.promedmail.org...:1000

Dianec
I'm unclear why someone herein said the stronger the immune system the more deadly. I read the article and it didn't say anything about that. Is this a theory or a fact? I can see someone having an auto immune disorder (over active immune system) responding worse to this but a strong immune system?

There is plenty of evidence in H1N1 cases. The 2009 epidemic offered scientific testing of the reasons for death in H1N1 as well as the anecdotal and recorded history of the 1918 epidemic.

The deaths are higher in strong immune systems due to dangerously high fever, organ failure and cytokine storm.

One recent victim was a young and healthy athlete one day and the next he was very ill. They took him to the hospital on the third day and doctors found his "lungs were filled with blood and organs were liquifying." according to a photo caption in the reporting article.
2009 cases of H1N1 also showed bleeding in the lungs and H1N1 was often only detected after this fact.

The severity of reaction from a strong immune system is often beyond the body's ability to cope.

Many anecdotal accounts of the 1918 flu had entire extended families infected including the infants and elderly but the fatalities were primarily mature adults in their prime years.
2009 studies showed this as well. Children and elderly had mild cases while healthy adults were hard hit.

Just to note,
The term "strong immune system" refers to the amount of inflammatory reaction the body uses to fight a virus or infection.

It doesn't refer to a person who already has antibodies from prior exposure or vaccine.

six67seven
Really, i only wonder how many of those 6 dead and 14 in critical condition have received a flu shot this year...

From reading several articles, five did not have shots. One may have but he recently had major surgery and may have died from another strain of the flu.
I do not know about the three who died in Houston or the ones in Austin.

Dianec
I'm unclear why someone herein said the stronger the immune system the more deadly. I read the article and it didn't say anything about that. Is this a theory or a fact? I can see someone having an auto immune disorder (over active immune system) responding worse to this but a strong immune system?

I think that some flu's actually target the Memory B cells and use the body's own immune response to proliferate when invading the host. By infecting a cell that is part of your immune response those with no resistance can see their body flooded by immune cells that are infected by the virus (converting part of your immune response to an infection vector).

If you have an immunity already (from vaccine or previous exposure) this effect is not as strong as the body remembers the previous and creates effector B cells (making antibodies) much sooner.

NOTE: It's been a long time since I studied viruses and honestly I was more concerned with passing chemistry at the time... but I think I am remembering it correctly.

Not to take anything away from those who lost loved ones and the seriousness of the situation but the timing of this is suspicious to me.

The AHCA, aka ObamaCare is supposed to go in effect at the start of the new year with much opposition. Nothing like a little pandemic to help sell some healthcare. It could be a coincidence but some of us do not believe in coincidences.

A teenager in Houston has died of H1N1 on Thursday.

Houston teenager killed by H1N1; death toll rises to 13

Texas Children’s Hospital reports seven children admitted with the flu right now with three in Intensive Care.

badgerprints
A strong immune system seems to be a problem with this flu.

I wonder what it means for people with autoimmune issues.
Our immune systems run wild ... up and down .... (I hate cold/flu season)

FlyersFan

badgerprints
A strong immune system seems to be a problem with this flu.

I wonder what it means for people with autoimmune issues.
Our immune systems run wild ... up and down .... (I hate cold/flu season)

I don't think H1N1 would pose any more of a problem for people with autoimmune diseases. That is to say, most flu viruses would be similarly dangerous.

There's a lot of flu going around here in S.E. Texas and the young kids and elderly obviously are just as likely to get it. They aren't dying of it though. Just coughing, hacking and spreading it, it seems. With all of the visiting that goes on indoors during the holiday season I'd expect we'll see a jump in the number of serious cases in January

Some people have been out sick where I work but more are coming to work and spreading it.

I felt like crap about a week after I got my shot but it went away in about 24 hours. It's been nearly 2 weeks now so hopefully I've got new antibodies floating around in the old system.


The teen that died and three critically ill at the children's hospital are a shame. They may be very healthy kids with a strong immunity or the virus might be hitting younger kids. They can't release the information because of privacy.

Usually I don't get flu shots but this year I think I'd be getting flu shots for my kids if they were old enough.

reply to post by badgerprints


This is what the general public doesn't understand, every flu doesn't target the same people.

The reason that the 1918 flu was so deadly was because it targeted young people. If that scale were to occur today, it would cripple society as we know it.

This is a variant of the 1918 flu, but there Is herd immunity. But this is a problem because it does target young adults.

nixie_nox
reply to post by badgerprints

 

This is what the general public doesn't understand, every flu doesn't target the same people.

The reason that the 1918 flu was so deadly was because it targeted young people. If that scale were to occur today, it would cripple society as we know it.

This is a variant of the 1918 flu, but there Is herd immunity. But this is a problem because it does target young adults.

Thank god for herd immunity.
I'd hate to see how society would react if things were on the scale that they were in 1918.