From the category archives:

Swine Flu Deaths

USA families not always told that Swine Flu killed their relative

In several cases, the families we spoke with said they did not know their relatives had died of swine flu until we told them. In these cases, county officials said the diagnoses had been made after doctors filled out the death certificates, and that it is not the county’s responsibility to notify family members. Nearly [...]

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44,000 extra deaths in USA flu related?

Under a less conservative estimate, based on comparing overall mortality during the pandemic with mortality over the same period in previous years, excess deaths numbered 44,100, surpassing those of a typical flu season. Years of life lost were three to four times higher than a virulent H3N2 season and five times higher than years of [...]

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Swine Flu, Heart Failure in Healthy Child

We describe a fatal case of myopericarditis presenting with cardiac tamponade in a previously healthy 11 years old child. Pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza A virus sequences were identified in throat, myocardial tissues and pericardial fluid, suggesting a damage of myocardial cells directly caused by the virus. via Cardiac tamponade and heart failure due to myoperi… [...]

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Influenza A H1N1 infection in humans – how it kills

OBJECTIVE: To find histopathological changes on major organs of Influenza A H1N1-infected patients and its relationship to clinical symptoms. METHODS: The autopsies were performed following conventional protocols and strict safety procedures. Tissue samples from all major organs of three cases were collected and fixed in 4% formalin. The histopathological changes on these samples were observed [...]

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CIDRAP report reminds us that H1N1 was/is worse than we thought

“Based on US mortality surveillance data, we conclude that the YLL burden of the 2009 pandemic may in fact be as high as for the 1968 pandemic-but that at this time the assessment is still tentative,” the report states. More waves of H1N1 cases are likely to come over the next few flu seasons, and [...]

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Excessive pH1N1 Deaths Escalate Pandemic Concerns

However, for the pandemic period, which began a year ago, the rate immediately moved above baseline last spring, as seasonal flu was winding down. The rate briefly fell below baseline in the summer, but then spiked higher in early August, when school resumed in the south. That early spike was linked to the fall wave, [...]

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Rapid Death in Malaysia H1N1 Cluster Linked To D225G/N?

Although the ministry of health initially tried to claim that neither died from the confirmed H1N1 infections, it is widely known and described in the literature that H1N1 infections can lead to kidney failure (as seen in the mother) or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), as seen in the daughter. Although diabetes and pregnancies create [...]

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Spike In Atlanta Georgia Deaths Raises Pandemic Concerns

Another approach to monitoring deaths is through P&I reports from 122 cities in the US. Atlanta shows a dramatic jump in deaths. A year ago the rate for weeks 8-11 was 3.3%, but this year the rate was 9.2%, which would represent 31 excessive deaths. The jump for the past two weeks was even more [...]

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Duke University cluster of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 – staff the source?

The index case had completed a 5 day prophylactic regime of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) but did not develop symptoms until 8 days post-treatment. Thus, the minimum of 13 days between exposure and symptoms suggests the source of infection was another contact in the hospital, and the above comments describe multiple potential sources who had symptoms, but [...]

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Measuring the Impact of H1N1 in “Years of Life Lost” suggest pandemic not mild

The World Health Organization (WHO) has described pH1N1 as a moderate” pandemic. Many flu experts have never been comfortable with qualitative terms such as “mild” or “moderate”, perhaps in part because they also minimize the import of the disease, and can dissuade publics from taking protective action. Researchers from the National Institites of Health (NIH) [...]

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