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Fair ~ River stage: 33.29 Rising Friday, November 20, 2009 |
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Southeast Missouri death attributed to H1N1Tuesday, September 29, 2009POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- H1N1 has claimed one life in this area, according to officials. Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center confirmed a patient died at the beginning of last week from H1N1 Influenza A. Also known as swine flu, H1N1 is a strain of Influenza A. A person from Ripley County died last week and had Influenza A, said Ripley County Health Center Director Jan Morrow. Morrow said she has not seen a report stating the cause of death or that an H1N1 test was done. About 98 percent of patients with Influenza A also test positive for H1N1. The patient, in his 30s, had other underlying health issues, Morrow said. "At this time, the family is very distraught and that's our focus," she said. "We know this is a very tough time for them." PBRMC cannot release any other information about the patient, said Director of Marketing Tiffany Jenkins. The hospital is working with the health department as they investigate this incident, according to a press release from PBRMC. "We are committed to protecting the privacy of our patients, therefore it's not fair or appropriate to the patient or family to go into any further detail," reads the document, which also states, "(W)e are following the strict guidelines and recommendations set forth by the health department and the (Center for Disease Control) regarding the treatment of patients who have suspected or confirmed cases of H1N1 Influenza A." People ill with H1N1, as well as other types of influenza, are treated with antiviral drugs. Area health departments continue to make plans for release of the H1N1 vaccine, expected to be available in mid to late October. Some 15 people in Ripley County have tested positive for H1N1 and seven for Influenza A, Morrow said. Butler County has had 18 people test positive for H1N1 and 33 for Influenza A, said Butler County Health Department Nurse Sherri Dodson. There have been fewer than 1,000 deaths nationwide related to H1N1, according to the CDC. In Missouri, those include a 44-year-old man from St. Louis County, a 24-year-old woman from Independence and possibly a 14-year-old girl, also from St. Louis County. About 30,000 people die each year from seasonal flu, Morrow said. Everyone should remember to wash their hands frequently and continue doing all the things that help reduce the spread of any virus, Morrow said. People who are sick should seek medical treatment and stay home, she continued. Jenkins also said in providing a safe environment for those in the hospital's care, it has well established rules for thorough and proper hand washing, extensive sanitizing measures, and daily health checks. Comments  Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on semissourian.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
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I'm glad to see the truth is coming out instead of hiding the facts like they do here in Cape.
What is being hidden in cape?
h1n1 is
Yeah, a conspiracy...always a conspiracy. Frankly I don't think folks are that clever.
Swine flu is hard to diagnose - even this article is trying to connect the dots. And that poor person who did pass had other medical complications. Losing a family member is sad under any circumstances.
And its NOT "about 30,000" people that die from seasonal flu, its 36,000 or ABOUT 40,000.
Here's a few notes I found that outline the challenges of diagnosing H1N1. I've seen estimates where half the diagnosis numbers are inaccurate.
Here's one story:
Specifically CDC rRT PCR is currently being used all over the world to identify and quantify this virus in the samples of the suspected / affected individuals. This is a complicated test which can not be done at all the Laboratories, even those who may be having requisite equipment. Inherently this test is also not 100 % accurate - it may give false negative and false positive results. This means that a person affected with Swine flu virus may be detected as virus free or a non affected person may also be detected as carrying this virus. Tests results may depend on:
1. The expertise of the personnel conducting the test,
2. Time ( duration ) of illness when person is tested- if tested too early , even infected persons may be shown as negative
3. Nature and quantity of sample collected- whether properly collected or not.
Rapid Diagnostic tests popular in US to diagnose influenza infection may not be very helpful in detecting H1N1 infections (this is the test which lead to false negative diagnosis in India's first Influenza death).
And, oh yeah, we're starting to hear that getting a regular flu shot might increase the chances of getting H1N1.
It's going to be a challenging year for accurate information. Beware - and take care of yourself.
Thank you blogbudsman.
It kills me the number of people who will jump to conclusions rather than do research.
First off, the health department has to report their findings and second, it serves no purpose to not report it.
As far as the regular flu shot increasing, its a possiblitiy but probably unlikely. The study hasn't been confirmed. I still recomend people get the regular flu shot if they can. Especially if they work around people in the high risk group.