Swine flu targets the young

Saturday May 9, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- With confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu virus continuing to climb, the Centers for Disease Control says “we need to remain vigilant” and has issued new guidelines for school closings and fact sheets for pregnant women.

The health agency also reported that 58 percent of the confirmed cases of the swine flu in the United States are in those under 18 years of age.

The CDC reported Wednesday that there are 896 confirmed cases of the virus in 41 states and two deaths in the United States, including a 33-year old woman in Texas who died of the flu on Tuesday.

The Texas woman, the second confirmed person to die of the flu in the U.S., lived near the Mexican border. She was pregnant and delivered a healthy baby while hospitalized, but had chronic medical conditions, health officials said.

Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, said there are six confirmed and five probable cases of H1N1 infection involving pregnant women in the U.S., but said that number is “not a higher rate than would be expected.”

“Pregnancy is a risk factor,” he said, “a known risk factor for known disease. We want to make sure that clinicians have information on how they should approach the issue of infection in pregnancy and that women who are pregnant have this information as well.”

School closings

Besser also announced new guidelines on school and day care closings yesterday. Original guidelines issued by the CDC called for a 14-day school closing when a confirmed case of swine flu was diagnosed. New guidelines lower the closure time to seven days.

“As we now see this infection,” said Besser, “it is not as severe as we had initially feared, we can cut back on that. And realize that, yes, after seven days there may be some children still shedding, but they will be shedding less virus and appropriate action is after seven days they can return to school.”

Age ranges

The median age range for the swine flu virus is 16 years, says the CDC, with cases ranging from three months to 81 years. They stated there are 35 hospitalizations, with the median age for those in hospital to be 15 years. Besser said the CDC is working to understand the dynamic of the virus and why it is attacking younger people.

“We don’t know yet about issues of population immunity,” he said. “We are not seeing as much disease in the elderly. This could be due to some underlying protection or it could be due to just the dynamics of it starting with the younger population before it traveled to the elderly.”

Besser said that with the increase in reported cases, “we need to remain vigilant.”

“It’s important that people have respect for this virus,” he said, “because it does cause severe disease, hospitalization and death.”

WHO cautions about infected pigs

The meat from infected pigs should not be used for human consumption, the World Health Organization cautioned on Wednesday, and said they are issuing new guidelines to protect swine farmers.

Reuters news reported that the WHO said it was possible for the flu virus to survive the freezing process and could also be present in thawed meat. This view is more cautious than guidelines from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which said that the virus is not food-borne and has not been identified in dead animal tissue, according to Reuters.

Jorgen Schlundt, director of the WHO’s Department of Food Safety, said the meat from sick pigs or pigs found dead should not be used “under any circumstances.”

“While it is possible for influenza viruses to survive the freezing process and be present on thawed meat, there are no data available on the survival of influenza A/H1N1 on meat nor any data on the infectious dose for people,” Reuters reported.

Schlundt said the WHO is advising people who work with pigs to wear protective equipment.

(By Sheilah Downey, and edited by Heather Kelley)