Queens Educator Critically Ill With Swine Flu; 3 Schools Closed

[Are_grits_groceries]

Source: NYT

In the first serious case of swine flu found in New York City, the assistant principal of a Queens middle school has been hospitalized and is on a ventilator, officials said Thursday. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has scheduled a news conference for around 6:15 p.m. to discuss the new outbreak.

The assistant principal, who works at Intermediate School 238, in the Hollis section of Queens, appears to have become critically ill and was said to be near death. The authorities would not immediately disclose his name.

His illness raised the possibility that the virus may have mutated into a more severe form than has been seen yet in New York.

Three public schools in Queens — the middle school where the assistant principal worked, as well as Intermediate School 5 in Elmhurst and Public School 16 in Corona — are being closed, effective Friday, because of the outbreak, officials said. The three schools together enroll 4,475 students.



Read more: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/queens-educator-critically-ill-with-swine-flu/?hp

[kestrel91316]

1. I don't like how they are trying to stir up panic in NYC with THIS:

".....His illness raised the possibility that the virus may have mutated into a more severe form than has been seen yet in New York......"

OR, the NYT may want to consider that it is just a typical, and fortunately rare, severe complication of flu that is nothing to get one's knickers in a twist about.

Raise the alarm when there are statistics that indicate a bad mutation, or when medical authorities say they think it has happened. Not just because somebody is seriously ill.

Someone needs to remind the NYT that 36,000 Americans die every year of NORMAL flu.

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. I want to know more.

It didn't say if he had an underlying condition. They shouldn't panic people, but we aren't out of the woods yet.

[aquart]

6. We absolutely knew it would hit the other area schools.

Brothers and sisters of the St. Francis kids passing it to pals.

[kestrel91316]

10. It's gonna spread, that much is sure. The most important thing we can do is to

SLOW IT DOWN. That way, fewer people are sick with it at any given time, and the strain on healthcare resources is less.

Everybody may eventually get it, but if we can stretch this thing out, we can keep the upper hand.

[hedgehog]

21. There are only so many nurses, so many hospital beds, so many ventilators

and oxygen masks. Slowing it down is one of the best steps we can take. Not to mention, the slower it spreads, the longer we have to get a vaccine out there.

[kestrel91316]

22. We are also lucky insofar as this new flu doesn't yet seem to be

sending many to the hospital. Let's hope it keeps up this level of community effect for many months, and that, if it mutates, those who already had it can provide some level of herd immunity.

[aquart]

12. Well, I'm panicked. I have a friend with an underlying health problem.

And his wife is teaching in that area. Today we heard he's sick. I also have an 88 year old mother who shops in the neighborhood with all the moms from St. Francis and the other involved schools. She has a bit of emphysema.

So you all keep calm because it won't kill a young, healthy adult. It's spreading all over Queens and there's a list of people I could lose.

[nodehopper]

15. on the contrary

the danger is to young healthy adults, at least that seemed to be the case with Mexico City. That was also the case with the 1918 flu.

[LostinVA]

23. Not according to what I've read -- no deaths from healthy young adults

The 1918 Flu was an anomaly, and if it happened now, deaths would be far less than in 1918, because of antibiotics for secondary infections, etc.

[ronnykmarshall]

26. delete

[Mojorabbit]

16. This is twice

that it was announced the person who was seriously ill or died had an underlying condition when the condition had nothing to do with the outcome. The first was a pregnant woman who died. Yesterday Bloomberg said he may have an underlying condition. Today the person's sons say he had gout. He is on a ventilator it seems.

on edit here is a link
The mayor said the assistant principal, Mitch Wiener, may have had pre-existing health problems — but on Friday, Wiener's son Adam said his father had only suffered previously from gout, which he said was unrelated to his current condition. He said his 55-year-old father is now suffering from pneumonia, kidney failure, dehydration and a lung infection.

"I don't know where people got that," Adam Wiener, 23, said Friday morning as he prepared to return to the hospital where the family was keeping vigil.

"The only pre-existing condition he has is gout, which is unrelated to complications he's experienced now."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090515/ap_on_re_us/us_swine_flu_nyc

[LostinVA]

24. That's not how it works -- pre-existing conditions can cause compromised immune systems

Which will lead to pneumonia ( a sure sign of a compromised immune system), etc. That's what Bloomberg, et al mean.

I think having gout could be quite significant, as patients with idiopathic gout have diabetes, high blood pressure (and thus possibly heart disease), and are usually obese. Healthy people don't usually get idiopathic gout. Since the man never had cancer or anything else, I doubt the gout is secondary.

it Typically, persons with gout are obese, predisposed to diabetes and hypertension, and at higher risk of heart disease.

I know alot about this because of a relative.

[Mojorabbit]

25. The family sayz

his only other condition was gout. My father who was fit also had gout.

[harmonicon]

3. this is "normal" flu

The flu virus is different every year. I'm afraid that this will be the start of a trend of giving every single flu virus a cute name and the media becoming hysterical about it.

[kestrel91316]

4. Well, um, NO. This is not "normal" flu as in our seasonal Influenza A that

comes around in various permutations every year, and that most people have at least a little immunity to. This flu has swine flu genes and human flu genes and avian flu genes, so it's a novel hybrid. That's why we don't know what to make of it, and what to expect of its future behavior.

Per Vilsack as posted on the AVMA website:
".....The CDC has determined that the 2009 H1N1 flu virus contains genetic pieces from four different virus sources, which is unusual. The virus consists of North American swine influenza viruses, North American avian influenza viruses, human influenza viruses and swine influenza viruses found in both Asia and Europe....."

New Flu FAQs per AVMA:
http://www.avma.org/public_health/influenza/new_virus/new_flu_virus_faq.asp

[friendly_iconoclast]

5. Also remember that the 1918 flu had a comparatively benign early outbreak,

comparable to the 1968 Hong Kong strain (which was itself pretty nasty on an absolute scale)

Then it mutated, and became the deadly variety that killed tens of millions of people.

H1N1 needs to be monitored very, very closely.

[jimlup]

7. Yeah, I had the 1968 Hong Kong Flu

I was 11 years old. It was no fun!

I'm glad that people are noticing and the media is reacting. I'd rather the media over react every once in a while than we miss the beginning of a serious pandemic that has deadly absolute potential. This story may end with a whimper but it may end with a bang... we have yet to see.

[amandabeech]

17. I had it, too. I was 13 and sick, sick, sick.

Half the town had it and the other half was taking care of the sick half.

Even though it was winter in Michigan (hi neighbor!), the total lack of people and cars on the street was very, very noticeable.

It took the virus about 3 weeks to clear my little town of 1800 in western lower Michigan.

Even if this swine flu turns out to be like the Hong Kong flu, it is worth treating with respect.

[kestrel91316]

9. Yep, CDC and WHO are gonna be watchin' this puppy like hawks.

[harmonicon]

11. the flu comes from lots of places, as this virus demonstrates

it's "normal" insofar as some people get it, some get sicker than others, and a few even die (which is a shame, but tens of thousands die from the flu, even in the US, every year). I have yet to see any evidence that says this is any more serious and deadly than any other seasonal flu. Basically, I couldn't be less worried.

[uppityperson]

14. No. This is not "normal" flu. Yes, flu viruses mutate all the time, but this one is different

I do agree about the media hysteria though. But no, this is not "normal" flu.

[jimlup]

8. The real danger is probably

that people stop taking these warnings seriously. I for one believe that, while the media may have hyped this, it is good that we have detailed coverage of this potentially deadly pandemic.

Unfortunately, the typical citizen may not realize that it is to his advantage to sometimes have an over zealous media rather than the other way around. And the typical citizen may unfortunately learn to ignore a serious warning when actually does come down. But I don't see an alternative.

[Coventina]

13. We had our first death in AZ today.

A man in his 40s, but they said he had a pre-existing lung disease.

[Mojorabbit]

19. ONe in Texas announced today

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6425771.html
Texas officials report swine flu death
© 2009 The Associated Press
May 15, 2009, 11:49AM


CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nueces County officials say a Corpus Christi man has died from the swine flu.

The unidentified 33-year-old man died May 5 or May 6 after getting sick earlier in the month, said Dr. William Burgin Jr., the medical authority for the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Health District. He says the man had multiple medical conditions, including heart problems, that made it more difficult for him to survive any viral illness.

Burgin says the man, a single parent, had three children and that only one of the kids got sick. The child was treated with Tamiflu and is now doing better.

[LostinVA]

18. Age? Existing medical conditions? Secondary infection not taken care of?

Healthy people don't tend to die of the flu, excluding the 1918 flu epidemic.

This isn't any type of SuperFlu like in "The Stand," it is "normal" flu.

[hedgehog]

20. Is there anyone without an underlying health condition?