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Fatal Cases of Swine Flu
September 20, 2009
The emerging picture of the new swine flu is one that is quite capable of infecting any person of any age, and may be especially problematic for pregnant women, women who have recently given birth, and overweight people. This data comes from the first collection of epidemiological data1 regarding who has died from severe H1N1 swine flu.
The data shows that deaths were similar between men and women. Half of the deaths occurred in the 20-49 age group, with an average age of 37. Globally, 12% of deaths occurred in those age 60 and older though that rate was higher in Canada (36%).
Data on underlying health problems or the lack thereof is available for half of the deaths. In this group 90% of the deaths are linked to underlying health problems and 10% are not. Diabetes and obesity were by far the most frequent underlying health conditions. Both conditions are associated with excessive production of TNFa. TNFa production is absolutely vital to enabling dendritic cells of your immune system mount a response against a never-before-seen virus, meaning that prior over-production of TNFa due to inflammatory health problems may seriously handicap the immune response to this current strain of flu.
30% of the women who died were pregnant or had recently delivered. Half of those women had known underlying health conditions and the health of the other half is unknown. Of course, the immune system in pregnant women is purposely down-regulated so that the fetus is not rejected as foreign. The co-existing stress of an additional health problem is likely to aggravate the inherent immune challenge of pregnancy.
The emerging data on the swine flu is that every person needs to pay attention, and especially work on reducing areas of excessive inflammation in their lives, regardless of their source. It is fairly clear that a woman who is overweight who then gets pregnant is at particular high risk and needs to take excellent care of herself to reduce those risks.
The data shows that deaths were similar between men and women. Half of the deaths occurred in the 20-49 age group, with an average age of 37. Globally, 12% of deaths occurred in those age 60 and older though that rate was higher in Canada (36%).
Data on underlying health problems or the lack thereof is available for half of the deaths. In this group 90% of the deaths are linked to underlying health problems and 10% are not. Diabetes and obesity were by far the most frequent underlying health conditions. Both conditions are associated with excessive production of TNFa. TNFa production is absolutely vital to enabling dendritic cells of your immune system mount a response against a never-before-seen virus, meaning that prior over-production of TNFa due to inflammatory health problems may seriously handicap the immune response to this current strain of flu.
30% of the women who died were pregnant or had recently delivered. Half of those women had known underlying health conditions and the health of the other half is unknown. Of course, the immune system in pregnant women is purposely down-regulated so that the fetus is not rejected as foreign. The co-existing stress of an additional health problem is likely to aggravate the inherent immune challenge of pregnancy.
The emerging data on the swine flu is that every person needs to pay attention, and especially work on reducing areas of excessive inflammation in their lives, regardless of their source. It is fairly clear that a woman who is overweight who then gets pregnant is at particular high risk and needs to take excellent care of herself to reduce those risks.
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