Australia : Two men die with swine flu
Two elderly men suffering from swine flu have died as the Northern Territory experiences an upsurge in infection rates from the virus.
It is understood the two men, both of whom had serious underlying health problems, were the first people to die with swine flu in the NT this year.
NT health officials released a statement on Wednesday advising people that swine flu remained a serious threat to public health, particularly among people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Peter Markey, from the NT Centre for Disease Control, said the most common strain of influenza circulating this year was H1N1, or swine flu.
This year there have been 173 influenza notifications in the NT, with 139 of them being H1N1.
About 45 of the reported swine flu cases have occurred in the past week, 17 of which required hospitalisation.
Dr Markey said his organisation had, in the lead-up to the Top End's annual flu season, been advising people to get vaccinated.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/7992577/two-men-die-with-swine-flu/
Comment: H1N1 has traditionally attacked those aged 55 and under, as there has been high levels of pre-exisiting cross immunity in older persons. Additionally, these two individuals should have qualified for vaccine last year in view of thier pre-exisiting disease. Therefore the question is, are these deaths indicative of an immune escape event? Only time will answer this along with sequence analysis.
Two elderly men suffering from swine flu have died as the Northern Territory experiences an upsurge in infection rates from the virus.
It is understood the two men, both of whom had serious underlying health problems, were the first people to die with swine flu in the NT this year.
NT health officials released a statement on Wednesday advising people that swine flu remained a serious threat to public health, particularly among people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Peter Markey, from the NT Centre for Disease Control, said the most common strain of influenza circulating this year was H1N1, or swine flu.
This year there have been 173 influenza notifications in the NT, with 139 of them being H1N1.
About 45 of the reported swine flu cases have occurred in the past week, 17 of which required hospitalisation.
Dr Markey said his organisation had, in the lead-up to the Top End's annual flu season, been advising people to get vaccinated.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/7992577/two-men-die-with-swine-flu/
Comment: H1N1 has traditionally attacked those aged 55 and under, as there has been high levels of pre-exisiting cross immunity in older persons. Additionally, these two individuals should have qualified for vaccine last year in view of thier pre-exisiting disease. Therefore the question is, are these deaths indicative of an immune escape event? Only time will answer this along with sequence analysis.