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CDC official: Number of confirmed H1N1 represent ‘tip of iceberg’
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CDC officials confirmed a sixth death in the United States related to the H1N1 outbreak today, as global health officials contemplated raising the global pandemic level.
Anne Schuchat, MD, of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC urged the media to “dispel the idea that we’re out of the woods” with the virus, and urged the public to remain vigilant about protecting themselves from the virus.
She said that there have been more than 5,100 confirmed cases in the United States and more than 8,000 confirmed cases globally in 39 countries. These figures likely represent the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of actual cases, Schuchat said.
Many of the hospitalized patients have been people in their 20s and younger, Schuchat said.
“Age-specific attack rates do suggest a difference in transmission from younger people compared with older people,” Schuchat said, offering a few possible explanations. “Children are obviously very good at transmitting infectious diseases; they have lots of contact with each other. There is also the idea that older adults may have some pre-existing protection against this virus due to previous exposure. We haven’t gotten that totally confirmed, but it’s an active working hypothesis. Another alternate hypothesis may be that it is just taking longer to make its way to seniors.”
CDC officials said they will be watching disease patterns in the southern hemisphere as the summer months approach and expect that cases of the virus will once again rise in the fall, but Schuchat also warned that influenza is “unpredictable.”
She said the high number of outbreaks in schools at this time of year is unusual and should serve as a reminder to maintain vigilance when it comes to preventing disease transmission.
New York health officials said the sixth person in the United States to die from the virus was an assistant principal in a New York intermediate school.
The other deaths related to the flu occurred in a a Mexican toddler who was visiting with family in Texas; a pregnant Texas woman; a Washington state man; an Arizona woman with lung disease and another man from Texas who was in his 30s. All of these patients are believed to have had underlying health conditions. – by Colleen Zacharyczuk