Somewhat Worrying…

An 11 year old girl in Brooklyn, New York has died from the H1N1/Swine Flu virus.

Councilman Peter F. Vallone Jr. of Queens said the public should be told if those who die after contracting the virus have pre-existing illnesses. Health officials have said that virtually all of those who have died had a condition that made them more susceptible to the flu.

But the officials have not specified those conditions, and the list of high-risk factors is so long — including heart disease, obesity and being older than 65 — that as many as one in three New Yorkers may have at least one.

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13,398 Cases of Influenza A(H1N1) Infection, Including 95 Deaths World-Wide

Two more people from New York have died from the swine flu.  It is said they had underlying health conditions, but I think pretty much everyone has underlying health conditions so that doesn’t mean too much to me.

Also, stop going to the hospital in droves, people!  You are far more likely to get something nastier than the swine flu at a hospital so suck it up and if you don’t feel well, stay at home.

In New York, “hospitals that normally get about 200 visits to the emergency room each day are getting 2,000 per day…and more than 25,000 people have gone to emergency rooms over the past month.”  Seriously, that’s ridiculous.  “Of those who have gone to the emergency room, fewer than 1 in 50 needed to be admitted to the hospital.”

If I had the flu, the last thing I would want to do is spend hours in the ER, twiddling my thumbs and inhaling everyone’s sickly vapors.

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12,022 Cases of Influenza A(H1N1) Infection, Including 86 Deaths World-Wide

A woman in her 50’s from New York has become the states second victim of the swine flu.  It is noted she had underlying health conditions, though it’s not said how serious those conditions were.

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A Couple Things

The aforementioned principal in New York has died from complications of the H1N1 virus. He is the 6th person to die from flu related complications.  It isn’t known if he had any pre-existing medical problems. Or if it is…no one’s saying anything. The city of New York is seeing a rise in flu reported illnesses.

Additionally, Japan is seeing an increase in swine flu cases, and is freaking out.

Kobe residents rushed to hospitals, where doctors in biohazard suits checked people for fever in tents set up in parking lots, Agence France-Presse reported. Transit workers and supermarket employees began wearing masks.

Japan is well known in public health circles for being exceptionally nervous about flu; it has an aging population and a national obsession with cleanliness that makes even Switzerland look messy.

Masks are common on subways because it is considered rude to lack one if you are sneezing. Before the outbreak began last month, Japan used about 60 percent of the world’s stock of the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

A biohazard suit in some kind of animal print might work for me, though.

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Fourth U.S. Fatality from H1N1/Swine Flu

A woman in Arizona with an underlying lung condition has become the fourth person in the U.S. with swine flu to die.

In New York, an assistant principal has been hospitalized and is on a ventilator after being confirmed to have the swine flu.  Three schools have been closed after clusters of flu symptoms were reported.

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