Woman may be swine flu fatality

Authorities await word on Charles resident's death

Friday, Nov. 6, 2009

According to posts on an Internet social networking site, a Port Tobacco woman died Thursday at a regional hospital from complications of the H1N1 virus, including a "very severe case of pneumonia."

When contacted Thursday, the woman's family would not confirm the cause of her death.

Deaths resulting from complications from the H1N1 virus are forwarded to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene but as of Thursday afternoon the agency had not received word about a swine flu death in Southern Maryland, said David Paulson, the department's spokesman.

So far there have been 13 confirmed deaths from the H1N1 virus in Maryland, Paulson said.

Once the proper protocol has been followed, the state sends confirmation of swine flu deaths to local health departments but local health officials are not authorized to confirm H1N1 deaths, Paulson said.

There have been two or three cases since the outbreak of the H1N1 virus where it was reported on Facebook that a person allegedly died from complications from the ailment but the reports were not true, Paulson said.

"They were discussed broadly on Facebook without people knowing for sure," he said. "We speak about only lab-confirmed cases. We don't have any evidence of this Charles County case yet but that doesn't mean that it isn't true. We just don't have it yet."

Paulson said between 600 and 1,000 people die from complications of seasonal flu every year that is most prevalent from October to mid-May.

Charles County is holding its own in the battle against the H1N1 virus with no major outbreaks of the ailment reported so far in the county, local health officials said Thursday.

Civista Medical Center in La Plata has treated about 1,000 people since Sept. 1 who came to the emergency department with influenza-like illnesses, said Joyce Riggs, spokeswoman. The hospital does not specifically test for H1N1 unless a person is admitted, she said, adding that patients who are admitted to the hospital with flu-like symptoms are suffering from some complication of the virus such as pneumonia or dehydration.

Because those symptoms can be present with other illnesses the hospital does not keep track of the number of patients admitted specifically because of complications from the flu, Riggs said.

"The majority of the time it's just like with the seasonal flu," she said. "People are admitted because of complications from the virus. They're not technically admitted because they have the flu so it's hard to give accurate admission numbers regarding H1N1."

Patients are tested for the virus when they are admitted so that the staff can take extra precautions when taking care of those folks, Riggs said. The hospital has private rooms which make keeping patients isolated a lot easier, plus there are several isolation rooms on each floor for people who are having extreme difficulty with the ailment, she said.

When patients are placed in isolation, nurses, doctors and other hospital staff use extra precautions when caring for them, including using masks and gloves and putting on clean gowns before and after entering the room, Riggs said.

The county's public schools are not seeing an upsurge in influenza-like illnesses and there has not been any high absenteeism reported, said Katie O'Malley-Simpson, spokeswoman.

Compared to hospitals in other areas in the state and across the country Civista is holding its own in dealing with the outbreak of the virus, Riggs said.

"We're not overwhelmed," she said. "At this point we're handling it very well."

Riggs said that folks do not need to go to the emergency room at the first sign of flu-like symptoms that include a cough, fever, chest congestion, diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

Hospital officials ask people to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines when they are sick with the ailment which include staying home and avoiding contact with other people, Riggs said.

The Charles County Department of Health is set to administer about 2,000 free doses of both the nasal and injection form of the H1N1 vaccine Saturday to priority groups, said William Leebel, department spokesman. People in the priority category include pregnant women, people who care for children younger than 6 months, folks 6 months to 24 years and people 25 to 64 who have underlying health conditions such as asthma or diabetes.

So far, the health department has administered 985 doses of the vaccine, Leebel said, adding that future H1N1 vaccine clinics will largely depend on how many doses the health department will receive from the state in the upcoming weeks.

"We're tentatively scheduling the clinics depending on the supply of the vaccine," he said.

"We're not told when the vaccine will arrive or how much of it we're getting."

The health department has been flooded with calls from folks who want to get the vaccine, Leebel said.

"We're getting a lot of calls about the clinics and some folks have a lot of anxiety about getting the vaccine," he said. "They're just asking a lot of questions."

Leebel said the health department has already depleted its 2,500-dose supply of the seasonal flu vaccine.

Riggs said Civista will not hold any more seasonal flu clinics.

"We're shuffling everybody to the health department," she said. "They're the keepers of the flu vaccine."

nmcconaty@somdnews.com