Swine flu risk not over yet
While the risks from contracting the H1N1 virus known as swine flu are far from over, new results show that not everyone is equally at risk. After extensive studies it seems that nearly half the people who have died from the virus so far were pregnant of suffered from other serious health conditions such as diabetes and conditions linked with obesity.
Contrary to former belief, it seems that the elderly are actually less likely to get infected than others, although the cases of mortality in elderly people who do get infected are significantly higher than those aged below 50.
A recent report by the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance in St. Maurice, France reveals that: “Most deaths (51 percent) occurred in the age group of 20-49 year-olds, but there was considerable variation depending on country or continent. There was documented underlying disease in at least 49 percent of documented fatal cases worldwide to date. Two risk factors are noticeable: pregnancy and obesity.”
While pregnant women are advised to take strict precautions to avoid contracting the virus, children are not highly at risk: “Although previous reports suggested that cases of pandemic H1N1 influenza 2009 occurred mainly in children, the mean and median age of the 343 fatal cases in our analysis were 37 years.”
Thanks to reuters.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website