Swine Flu UPDATE:US Swine Flu Casualties Had Pre-Existing Health Problems

Swine Flu UPDATE:US Swine Flu Casualties Had Pre-Existing Health Problems according to federal health authorities.

The 22 month old child who died April 27, 2009 of the flu, also called H1N1, had neonatal myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease. This was written in a report, which was written by a virus investigation team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published online in the New England Journal of Medicine. The toddler who was from Mexico and who fell ill while visiting relatives in Texas, also had a heart defect, problems swallowing and chronic hypoxia.

(pic) A student uses disinfectant as she arrives Thursday at the National Technical Institute in Mexico City.

The 33 year old Texas woman who died last week was pregnant when she became ill, according to the same report. She had been diagnosed with asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.

The details came in a summary of the 642 confirmed cases of H1N1 infection that were diagnosed between April 15th, 2009 and May 5th, 2009, in 41 states among patients ranging in age from 3 months to 81 years.

The report also stated that sixty percent were 18 years or younger and 18 percent had recently traveled to Mexico.

It continued to state that 36 of the 399 patients with confirmed H1N1 infection whose hospitalization status was known had been hospitalized.

Of the 22 hospitalized patients for whom data were available, only four were younger than 5.

Swine Flu UPDATE:US Swine Flu Casualties Had Pre-Existing Health Problems and nine had chronic medical conditions, some of which included Down Syndrome and congenital heart disease.

Seven patients of the swine flu stated that they had traveled to Mexico during the week before onset of illness.

Eleven of those 22 hospitalized patients had pneumonia and eight patients were treated in an intensive care unit. Four of those patients were placed on ventilators, during their stay.

As of Tuesday, May 5th, 2009, 18 of the 22 patients who had been hospitalized have recovered.

In a conference call with reporters, CDC’s Dr. Carolyn Bridges stated that, “epidemiologists would be scrutinizing the disease’s spread in South America, where the cool season is set to begin. The flu virus prefers lower humidity and lower temperatures for transmission and we’ll be looking closely to the Southern Hemisphere during their winter to see what happens. That may give us some clues as to what to expect.”

Brazil’s health minister told reporters Thursday, May 7th, 2009 that four cases of H1N1 infection have been confirmed in Brazil. Three of those infected have been hospitalized and one is at home, according to Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao.

One case is in Rio de Janeiro, two are in Sao Paolo and the fourth was in Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil. Two of the patients had recently been in Mexico City; the other two had recently been in Florida, stated Temporao.

Temporao also suspects another 21 cases are suspected in Brazil.

In Buenos Aires, Health Minister Graciela Ocana confirmed Argentina’s first H1N1 case, a man who arrived April 25,2009, from Mexico. The man was hospitalized in the capital and released after he recovered, Ocana stated.

The ultimate course of the disease remains unclear, states Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He is also involved in the effort to create a vaccine.

“We may be seeing the tip of the iceberg. We can’t make any definitive projections about where this is going. It appears to be acting like a typical seasonal flu, only it’s out of season. We shouldn’t be seeing this much influenza and it’s with a new virus and that’s the cause for the concern,” states Fauci.

Asked when asked about a vaccine, Fauci states,  “We hope to get doses of a vaccine by mid fall to late fall.”

CDC SWINE FLU UPDATES

es*	Laboratory confirmed cases	Deaths
TOTAL (43)	1639 cases	2 deaths

WHO SWINE FLU UPDATES

As of 16:00 GMT, May 8th, 2009, 25 countries have officially reported 2500 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection.

Swine Flu UPDATE:US Swine Flu Casualties Had Pre-Existing Health Problems and health officials are hopping that there will be a vaccine ready when flu season hits America and Canada

For the full story, go to CNN News.