Swine Flu Victims Reported To Have Bacterial Infection
Posted on: Thursday, 1 October 2009, 05:30 CDT
Health officials reported on Wednesday that a lot of people who have died from the H1N1 swine flu in the U.S. have also had bacterial infections.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that of 77 patients who died from the H1N1 virus, 29 percent had bacterial co-infections.
The CDC said that about half to these patients had Streptococcus pneumoniae, which can be prevented with a vaccine. It said that doctors might have been missing these infections because of the focus on the flu.
The CDC has already reported that H1N1 has become more active as cooler weather sets in and schools reopen after summer breaks. All 50 U.S. states have reported swine flu cases and it is still circulating globally.
The virus is no deadlier than the seasonal influenza so far, but it attacks a younger age group more so than the typical flu does. It is also dangerous because virtually the entire population lacks immunity, and it can infect more people at once than the seasonal flu.
"The findings in this report indicate that, as during previous influenza pandemics, bacterial pneumonia is contributing to deaths associated with pandemic H1N1," the team of experts at the CDC and state health departments reported.
"Our influenza season is off to a fast start and unfortunately there will be more cases of bacterial infections in people suffering from influenza," CDC epidemiologist Dr. Matthew Moore, who helped organize the study, added in a statement.
The CDC's report said that in previous pandemics, many of the patients that died were also infected with S. pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus and group A Streptococcus, which causes rheumatic fever and "strep throat."
The team said that at first it did not appear that people who were seriously ill with swine flu or died from it had secondary infections, but doctors may have missed them.
"Routine clinical tests used to identify bacterial infections among patients with pneumonia do not detect many of these infections," the CDC team reported.
Five of the patients that died had infections with so-called superbug methicillin-resistant S. aureus or MRSA. None of the seven children studied that died had reports of medical conditions that would have put them at special risk of flu complications, although one was obese and another had Down syndrome.
The researchers said that patients whose cases were studied might not represent the nation as a whole. However, most of the victims were a median age ranging from 2 months old to 56 years.
Moore said people getting flu vaccinations should ask about getting a pneumococcal vaccine as well.
Wyeth's Prevnar is part of a routine series of immunizations that children are recommended to get. Also, Merck and Co. makes a vaccine against so-called pneumococcal bacteria that is available for adults, mostly over 65. Merck makes a Hib vaccine, but there is no vaccine to prevent group A streptococcal infections or MRSA.
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Source: RedOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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