By: Health Insurance
Submitted: 2009-12-24 19:07:24 | Word Count: 797
Four men with chronic health problems are the latest New Mexicans whose deaths have been linked to the H1N1 flu, the state Department of Health reported Wednesday.
December 16, 2009
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Influenza-Like Illness
Visits to health-care providers for influenza-like illness decreased from 4.5 percent last week to 3.3 percent this week. The Department tracks influenza-like illness, which is defined as fever and either cough and/or sore throat, at 26 clinics throughout the state. Influenza-like illness is the best indicator of flu activity in the state.
H1N1 influenza is still the predominant strain of flu in New Mexico at this time. All positive flu tests are presumed to be novel H1N1 influenza. The severity of illness due to novel H1N1 influenza has not changed nationally or in New Mexico from the spring.
Deaths
The Department of Health is reporting four new deaths in the last week in New Mexico for a total of 47. All patients had chronic medical conditions that put them at higher risk for flu complications. The cases were a 62-year-old male and an 89-year-old male both from Bernalillo County, an 85-year-old male from Doņa Ana County and a 39-year-old male from Santa Fe County.
Disease investigation:
The overall rate of laboratory-confirmed influenza hospitalizations for New Mexico is 46 per 100,000 population. The county-specific rates range from 11.2 per 100,000 population for Torrance County to 150.1 per 100,000 population for Colfax County.
The overall rate of laboratory-confirmed influenza deaths for New Mexico is 2.3 per 100,000 population. The region-specific rates for the state range from 1.7 per 100,000 population for the Southwest to 3.1 per 100,000 population for the Southeast.
Laboratory-confirmed influenza deaths by region of residence
Reported since April 1, 2009
* Northwest: 9 deaths (2.0 per 100,000 population)
* Northeast: 6 deaths (2.0 per 100,000 population)
* Central: 17 deaths (2.6 per 100,000 population)
* Southeast: 9 deaths (3.1 per 100,000 population)
* Southwest: 7 deaths (1.7 per 100,000 population)
* Statewide: 47 deaths (2.3. per 100,000 population)
(2008 population estimates from the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research.)
Vaccine Information
The Department of Health has ordered about 554,300 doses of nasal and injectable H1N1 vaccine. Vaccine is arriving in small amounts and is being distributed to providers and public health offices statewide. Due to a change in the way vaccine is circulating in New Mexico, the Department can no longer accurately track how much vaccine each county has received.
The Department of Health expanded the high-risk priority groups last week, adding all children and young adults 6 months to 24 years. The Department encourages people in the following current H1N1 vaccination priority groups to get vaccinated as soon as possible:
* Pregnant women
* Household members/caretakers of infants younger than 6 months old
* Children and young adults 6 months to 24 years
* Adults 25 to 64 years of age with certain chronic health conditions that increase their risk of complications from influenza
* Health-care workers and emergency medical service personnel with direct patient care.
The Department of Health is encouraging people in the current priority group to call their primary healthcare providers first to ask if they are providing the novel H1N1 vaccine. People in the priority groups without insurance or a health-care provider, or whose provider will not offer the H1N1 vaccine, can get the vaccine from a local public health office.
Hospitalizations by County
So far, there have been 957 hospitalizations related to novel H1N1 influenza this year. This week the Department of Health is reporting seven new hospitalizations.
The hospitalizations by county are as follows:
Bernalillo County (243), Catron County (2), Chaves County (16), Cibola County (12), Colfax County (22), Curry County (57), Doņa Ana County (119), Eddy County (28), Grant County (20), Guadalupe County (1), Hidalgo County (2), Lea County (30), Lincoln County (6), Los Alamos County (4), Luna County (13), McKinley County (71), Mora County (1), Otero County (28), Quay (7), Rio Arriba County (20), Roosevelt County (9), San Juan County (61), San Miguel County (9), Sandoval County (41), Santa Fe County (47), Sierra County (10), Socorro County (16), Taos County (22), Torrance County (2), Union County (1), Valencia County (30) and 7 cases where residence has not yet been determined.
