BCRT: British Columbia Respiratory Therapy

October 12, 2009 — H1N1 critical illness mostly affects young patients and is often fatal, according to the results of a Canadian and Mexican study and an editorial published online October 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association(JAMA).

“Of 215 patients with critical illness, 162 had confirmed, 6 had probable, and 47 had suspected community-acquired 2009 influenza A (H1N1) infection. Mean age was 32.3 ± 21.4 years in the 168 patients with confirmed or probable 2009 influenza A (H1N1); 113 patients (67.3%) were women and girls, 50 patients (29.8%) were children, and 43 patients (25.6%) were aboriginal Canadians…”

H1N1 Critical Illness Mostly Affects Young Patients and Is Often Fatal

Pregnant women are four times more likely to be admitted to hospital if they contract swine flu than the general population, American scientists have found. An article published online in The Lancet written by the scientists at the respected Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has quantified the extra risk swine flu poses during pregnancy for the first time since the outbreak began.
The analysis included 45 deaths in America, 13 per cent of which were in pregnant women and all were relatively healthy before they contracted flu.

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Fifty-two new cases of the H1N1 swine flu virus have been recorded in B.C. since July 14, according to the health ministry.

To date, 434 individuals in British Columbia have tested positive for the virus that has caused illness in the U.S., Mexico and dozens of other countries.

Thirty-two of B.C.’s new cases are in the Fraser Health Authority region.

British Columbia’s confirmed cases include:

- 223 in Fraser Health.

- 18 in Interior Health.

- 33 in Northern Health.

- 104 in Vancouver Coastal Health.

- 56 on Vancouver Island.

(VancouverSun)

Five kids at an elementary school in Burnaby are paying the price for a decision by the Fraser Health Authority not to close Marlborough Elementary school near Metrotown and have become infected with Swine Flu.
The Fraser Health Authority, led by CEO Dr. Nigel Murray, had told the school there was no reason to think additional kids would be infected after one case was diagnosed last week.

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Stephania Cormier, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has shown for the first time that early exposure to environmentally persistent free radicals (present in airborne ultrafine particulate matter) affects long-term lung function.

Sourced from: Respiratory / Asthma News From Medical News Today