news story / By Heidi Walters

The Coming Flu

Following Humboldt County’s first H1N1 death, officials ramp up for mass inoculation

(Aug. 27, 2009)  The sad news that a local woman had died last Friday, likely from complications from the H1N1 virus — the swine flu — prompted the Humboldt County Public Health Branch to gather in the news folks on Monday for a war briefing.

Your job, Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Ann Lindsay told us newsies, is going to be to get the word out there that, come this fall, there could be a surge in H1N1 cases in the county — unless people actively engage in prevention measures, including practicing good hygiene and getting vaccinated when the time comes if they’re in one of the high-risk categories.

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Lindsay noted that the death rate for H1N1 is no higher than that for the regular seasonal flu. In the United States, an estimated 36,000 people die each year from seasonal flu. As of April 28, five people have been hospitalized in Humboldt County with H1N1.

But this was Humboldt County’s first fatality related to the virus. At Monday’s briefing, the county didn’t know the exact cause of the woman’s death. But on Tuesday, health department spokesperson Heather Muller said that they’d received the cause-of-death certificate. It listed three causes of death: the immediate cause was cardiovascular collapse; two underlying causes were septic shock and H1N1 influenza. It also said she had significant conditions contributing to her death but which did not result in the underlying causes of her death, including adult respiratory distress syndrome.

“She probably would not have died” if she did not have H1N1, said Lindsay Tuesday afternoon.

The 58-year-old woman, whose identity the department did not disclose, became ill at the end of July. She was hospitalized at Redwood Memorial for several weeks before her death on the afternoon of Aug. 21. She tested positive for the H1N1 virus on Aug. 9. It is unknown where she contracted the virus. Nobody who has been around her has shown symptoms of H1N1, and the threat to them is likely past now, Lindsay said.

Statewide, 1,153 people have been hospitalized and 115 have died since the beginning of the swine flu outbreak. Nationwide, there have been 7,983 hospitalizations and 522 deaths. But it’s likely the death rate is smaller: More people probably have had a mild case of the swine flu and recovered without ever going to the hospital, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nevertheless, county officials are preparing for the worst.

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