H1N1 Also a Danger to Older Patients

Thought to Target Young People, New Study Shows Hospitalization and Death Can Occur in All Age Groups

(CBS)  Brenda Lau, 62, doesn't fit the typical profile of somebody with H1N1. But she almost died from it, reports CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook.

"It's a miracle for me," Lau said.

A new study finds while H1N1 mostly strikes younger patients, older ones are not immune.

"Once they become infected with H1N1, older patients may be at greater risk of developing severe respiratory disease and even death," said Dr. Lory David Wiviott, an infectious disease expert and associate medical director of the California Pacific Medical Center.

Special Report: H1N1 Virus

Researchers looked at more than 1,000 people hospitalized with H1N1 in California. About a quarter were aged 50 and over. The older group had the highest mortality - almost 20 percent died.

Around the country, doctors like Wiviott are seeing H1N1 kill older patients like Danna Fortune, a 53-year-old nurse in Indiana. And 51-year-old Gail Stapelton, an English teacher from Phoenix.

Meanwhile, only 32 million doses of H1N1 vaccine are now available. Despite the new concern for older Americans, the CDC does not recommend moving them to the head of the line.

"It doesn't change what our recommendations would be for vaccination," said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden. "Still overwhelmingly the number of people affected by H1N1influenza are under the age of 65."

Two thirds of hospitalized patients had underlying medical problems, and researchers identified a new risk factor not previously associated with influenza complications: obesity.

[CollegeBlog]

I agree that older patients are also prone to viruses, and they need a protection.
Regards,
http://www.universityloveconnection.com/blog

[lpgideon]

Wow! I am now 81, almost 82. I am ready to die, so I tell myself. But, I am healthy, take all the proper pills, just 4, and get my flu and pneumonia shots as required. I would like to celebrate my hundredth, having a great party, AND bouncing my new 2 year old son on my lap at the same time. Dreaming? You bet, but I will not let the H1N1 problem worry me.

[mollydtt]

I wish that the news stations would simply *not* mention H1N1.
There are a lot of hysterical people out there, wringing their hands, beating their chests, and for what!

There IS NO vaccine available, so why in the heck are the news stations trying to rile people up into a frenzy for a vaccine that doesn't exist.
Stop it!

[us_1776]

Yes, the regular flu kills tens of thousands every year in the U.S. But nearly all of these are people who are either very elderly or have some other serious underlying medical problem.

H1N1 on the other hand is killing normal, healthy young people. We've lost a number of young high school athletes to H1N1 where I live. And that is what makes it a disease to be concerned about. Especially considering how easily the flu mutates and can become extremely deadly in just a few days. You want to keep the level of the flu as low as possible so that you don't have millions of 'incubators' for the flu to try and mutate.

[revlin1]

UH NEWSFLASH...Is this news to CBS? We "older" folks who are being barred from getting the H1N1 ALREADY KNOW THIS...AND, do you think we can find a shot anywhere/ NADA....What age is Obama and wife?

[Virgil-1]

H1N1 ATTACTS COMPUTERS NATIONWIDE.

[bubbadubba]

Hey folks, why are we even here?
My family changes the channel if anyone mentions H1N1 on TV (sometimes all four networks are doing stories at the same time) until we find a channel that is not trying to make the wealthy stockholders rich who own stock in GSK.
We are NOT getting a vaccine so I guess this whole thing is meaningless to me and my family.
See you guys later but not on anything related to this stupid H1N1 scam.
Have a great day and be careful driving your car because in the past 10 years 500,000 have died in car accidents.
Is there a vaccine for that?

[bubbadubba]

The stock of the company that produces the H1N1 vaccine has gone up 400% in a few months since these news stories started and some wealthy people are making a fortune. Now the stories get even scarier and try to get EVERYONE to get a vaccine.
Interesting, no?

[Hosheen]

Let's see, about 5,000 people world wide have died from the "Swine flu pandemic". IN the USA alone, about 36,000 people a year dies from the regular flu. About 600,000 die from the effects of smoking.

So which one is the most serious? All of this H1N1 nonsense is just that. It's another way of telling the people they are being attacked. As Joseph Goebbels said, "Convince the people they are being attacked, then a government can do anything it wants. It works the same in every country."

[bjella]

The link to the famouse flue mug is here....http://www.zazzle.com/swine_bird_human_flu_virus_mug-168817639185049871 or you can find it under mugs at http://www.zazzle.com/neslehcim

[Aussie77]

So glad Australia is coming into summer and people have stopped talking about Swine Flu! What an over reaction. While sad and a tragedy for the families THOUSANDS of people die of the plain old flu, or complications thereof, every year (in Australia alone). Swine flu is just another form of flu. Flu can be dangerous for the very young, the very old and/or people with compromised immune systems. This is not new.

[gmw7777]

I commented yesterday by stating that even though I told my doctor I had great trouble with acute bronchitis when I get the flu, I was told that because I'm a member of the Baby Boomers' generation, I should just die and get out of the way, because there's too many of us. I'm 61 years old. I got the seasonal flu vaccine in August at a supermarket pharmacy. I always said the vaccine should be available in August. The only reason it was is due to the fatalities of young people from swine flu.
It is a tragedy that this country cannot produce enough vaccine for us all. I'm a registered nurse with 40 years of experience serving community and country. I've been told I'm one of the finest nurses in the world. If I'm treated like a pariah, who else has a chance??!!

[Hosheen]

"I should just die and get out of the way, because there's too many of us" Who told you this? What doctor? Where? I think you are a liar. But obviously a Neo-con and saying Neo-con liar is a redundancy.

Come to think of it, people like you HAVE already lived too long and that has nothing to do with your age, but with your stupidity.

[wyodutch]

In other words... all the crap the government has been spouting about the vaccine "priority lists" is just that... crap.

[us_1776]

I'm over 50 and I caught this H1N1 two weeks ago and I've been battling this damn flu every since. It felt like I had pneumonia (could not take a full breath) and near the end of it I felt like I was getting meningitis. My neck was very stiff and in the morning I could hardly open my jaw. What I really hate about this flu is that it keeps coming back on you. Three times I thought I had finally gotten rid of this thing only to have it resurge and come back on me. It's like the damn boomerang flu. I think I finally have gotten rid of it but this was no picnic. I thought for most people this was supposed to be mild? Wasn't so for me.

[bubbadubba]

Gee, I wonder why the vaccine manufacturer stock went from a low of 8 pounds to 32 pounds in a few months.
Could this whole H1N1 media frenzy thing be stock manipulation by the wealthy using the media they own?
No way! The wealthy would never lie and trick us like that to make money they really care about us.
LOL