Despite the Naysayers, the H1N1 Pandemic is Serious and Deadly

By Anthony L. Kimery
HS Today
November 10, 2009

'We have hospitals setting up triage tents on their campuses'

Public health officials on the frontlines of combating the H1N1 influenza pandemic and all its attendant problems are increasingly frustrated and disturbed by naysayers’ claims that the virus isn’t as bad as it appears. Critics of the US government’s response in particular say all the bad news is just so much hype - that H1N1 and its consequences really aren't much different than seasonal flu.

Meanwhile, compounding the naysayers' obvious ignorance of the facts are the conspiracy theorists who tout that the H1N1 virus is a man-made pathogen designed as a beta test in advance of release of a lethal virus that's been designed to kill off a large segment of the human population by a cabal of shadowy globalists who plan to take over the world. The mass innoculations against H1N1 are a prelude to global martial law of some sort. 

As absurd as such beliefs are, not just a few public health authorities are worried that there will be unnecessary deaths and hospitalizations of people who "buy into these insane blatherings."

Public health authorities, virologists, and other experts HSToday.us regularly talks to say the naysayers simply “don’t know what the hell they’re talking about,” as one put it at the annual International Association of Emergency Managers meeting in Orlando, Florida last week.

The fact is the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus is wreaking much more havoc than seasonal flu.

At present, pandemic flu activity continues its vigorous spread across the United States, with 48 states experiencing widespread activity - and more children continuing to die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Indeed. Eighteen flu-related pediatric deaths were reported last week. Fifteen were confirmed 2009 H1N1, and three were influenza A viruses, but were not subtyped. Since April 2009, CDC has received reports of 129 laboratory-confirmed pediatric 2009 H1N1 deaths and another 15 pediatric deaths that were laboratory confirmed as influenza, but where the flu virus subtype was not determined.

Lab-confirmed flu hospitalizations continued to climb and hospital emergency rooms across the nation continue to report reaching their surge capacity.

“The impact is being felt on our already overburdened health care systems. We have hospitals setting up triage tents on their campuses, a phenomenon not ever seen with the seasonal epidemics that recur yearly,” HSToday.us was told by a top public health official on background because of the politically sensitive nature of the official’s position.

“Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) nationally decreased very slightly this week over last week after four consecutive weeks of sharp increases,” CDC stated, adding “while ILI declined slightly, visits to doctors for influenza-like illness remain at much higher levels than what is expected for this time of the year and parts of the country continue to see sharp increases in activity. It’s possible that nationwide ILI could rise again. ILI continues to be higher than what is seen during the peak of most regular flu seasons.”

Continuing, CDC said “total influenza hospitalization rates for laboratory-confirmed flu are climbing and are higher than expected for this time of year.”

By mid-October, influenza-related illnesses across the country were already at levels higher than seen at the peak of traditional flu seasons.

Hospitalization rates continue to be highest in younger populations with the highest hospitalization rate reported in children 0-4 years old.  There’ve been roughly 10,000 hospitalizations over the last two months alone, compared to more than 21,000 who were hospitalized by July 23, according to the CDC, which said at the time that the number suggested the current number of H1N1 swine flu-related hospitalizations -- just under 22,000 from the end of August to the middle of October - was a vast underestimate.

By the end of July, up to 5.7 million Americans, or 140 times the reported number, had contracted H1N1.

Furthermore, “40 percent of children and 20 percent of adults who were hospitalized with pandemic H1N1 infections did not have underlying risk factors,” the official stated.

Additionally, pneumonia and influenza mortality rates increased for the fifth week in a row and more than 99 percent of subtyped flu viruses reported to the CDC were the pandemic H1N1 virus.

CDC stated that “the proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report continues to increase and has been higher for five week now than what is expected at this time of year.”

“The idea that a true pandemic must be associated with a high death rate to cause alarm is fallacious,” the official said, pointing out that “in 1918, there was not the level of sophistication in medical care that we have today, and thus it only appears that the virus was more virulent. We cannot compare death rates in eras with totally different health care response programs.”

The official continued: “Also, we cannot predict what the overall death rate will ultimately be since the pandemic is now approximately only six months old in the US, is only in its second wave, and is expected to return again in the spring. We still face the possibility of mutation and must be continually on guard.”

“The attack rate is now high enough to cause widespread dislocations in our school systems and economic effects at our workplaces,” the official continued. “Parents must absent themselves from work to care for sick children. Other workers must absent themselves to care for elderly or infirm family members.”

“One significant reason for the so-called ‘weakness’ of this pandemic is the public messaging regarding personal hygiene practices, including the vaccine program,” the official said, noting that “this has not caused ‘public paranoia.’ Instead, this two pronged preventive program has probably lowered the pool of potential victims and thus provided less opportunity for the virus to infect.

“The virus is different from the seasonal type [flu] because of its propensity to attack large numbers of children who have no immunity to this ‘novel’ form. Are we to be so indifferent as to ignore the tragedy that has already befallen close to 120 youngsters in the US, let alone the hundreds who have died in other countries?”

“We have rising rates of asthma, diabetes, and obesity in our children. Those yet to be vaccinated, who fall into this cohort, continue to be at great risk until the vaccine supply increases to more acceptable levels,” the official stated, adding, “I could go on, but I'm sure you can see that my view is quite different from those of the naysayers ... I tend to look with great disfavor on any entity that can sicken or kill me."