Boston Man Dies From Swine Flu

By The WBUR Newsroom
Nov 10, 2009, 5:25 PM
4 Comments

BOSTON — A Massachusetts man has died from the swine flu, marking the 14th person in the state and the fifth Boston resident to die from the H1N1 virus.

The 65-year-old had multiple health problems, according to the Boston Public Health Commission. Elderly people and those with chronic conditions have a harder time warding off complications from the swine flu.

Young people have also been hit worse than most, but increasing evidence shows swine flu is most deadly for the elderly.

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cantabrigian

Is this statement true? Everything I’ve heard about the swine flu until now is that its complications are more dangerous for young children and thus that is the age group that is being offered the first wave of vaccines.
alexdarc

Yes it is true. It’s complications are most dangerous for anyone who has other health concerns like heart conditions or asthma or COPD.
The reason this flu is different from a typical flu is because it is taking a toll on an age group not usually as affected by the flu – school aged kids and young adults.
I believe the effort to give school aged kids the vaccines first is to prevent the spread of disease through communities via the school systems.
The elderly are still at the greatest risk of dying from H1N1, followed by people with “underlying conditions” and pregnant women.
dvatcher

The first comment is indeed correct, as reported in the Lancet. Based on a study of Mexican cases of H1N1 flu, people over the age of 70 had the highest mortality rate of any group at 10.3%. Older people may have some immunity to H1N1 because of their age and prior exposure to viruses that may have been similar to this current strain. Younger people have no such immunity, hence the need to prioritize the vaccinations.In addition, with the young people immunized it will strengthen the overall “herd” immunity and help keep everyone healthy.
cr

cantabrigian, the elderly should not have been the emphasis for past flu vaccines; they are the most unable to make antibodies.

To know about Pandemic H1N1, better catch up by reading pp 1-5 of
the May 22 Epidemiological Report the WHO made on H1N1
(be sure you see CFRs by age decades on p 2)

and try getting your news from someplace not subject to, “political and economic pressures”
such as the, “PFI Pandemic Flu Information Forum”.

There’s plenty you’ve not been told since Pandemic Alert started Oct. 2005, and, that you’ve not been told about this, “sneaky” Firstwave H1N1 virus. (Which was already discovered to be mutated into 7 clades by early May, simply by looking in Wisconsin and NY.)

Try looking at the graph the CDC has on reported confirmed US H1N1 deaths
(adults who get sick and die at home are Not tested for Panflu – only ruled out as homicides; so, adult Pandemic deaths are very undercounted)
Search,
“CDC 2009 H1N1 Early Outbreak and Disease Characteristics”
page and look at the bottom of the page for,
“Graph C: Novel H1N1 U.S. Deaths, By Age Group”

Now did you ever hear your commuity was supposed to be using “Early Targeted Layered Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions” to reduce infections and demand on ICUs, since govt didn’t want to buy enough antivirals during Alert, nor did govt want to make enough US vaccine plants?

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