Two Coloradans have died because of the swine flu this month and more than 170 have been hospitalized, an early and “extraordinary” start to the flu season that has doctors unsure about what to expect come winter.
A child between age 10 and 17 died in Boulder this month and a person about 50 years old died in Denver on Monday morning, according to the state health department, which would not release the exact ages, gender or names of the patients.
Both had other health conditions that might have caused them to succumb to the flu, said Dr. Ken Gershman, chief of the communicable disease program at the state Department of Public Health and Environment.
The two recent deaths bring the total in Colorado to three. The first reported death from H1N1 flu was a 41-year-old El Paso County woman, who died in July.
The number of flu hospitalizations — 171 from Sept. 5 through 19 — is way beyond normal for this time of the year. The state health department typically does not even track flu cases until October and doesn’t see hospitalizations until November or December, Gershman said.
“This is extraordinary, and it’s clearly the result of H1N1,” he said. “This is entirely different than any other flu season.”
Health officials typically track flu hospitalizations from October through May but never stopped counting this year because of the arrival of H1N1 in the spring.
Throughout the summer, about 10 to 15 people per week were hospitalized because of the flu. In the past four weeks, hospitalizations have jumped dramatically.
Fewer than 1 percent of doctor visits during the summer were due to flu, compared with almost 5 percent last week in the Denver area.
Although flu has been reported across the state, most of the hospitalizations have been in Denver and along the Front Range.
Health officials say it’s impossible to know when the H1N1 virus will peak or how long the season will last.
“If you’ve seen one flu season, you’ve seen one flu season,” said Roberta Smith, a nurse and infection preventionist for Children’s Hospital in Aurora. “This is a new novel strain. You typically can’t predict what’s going to happen with influenza.”
The number of patients hospitalized because of the flu at Children’s Hospital is typical for the peak of regular seasonal flu, which doesn’t usually happen until January.
Hospitalization rates this month, though, are lower than those during the peak of the 2003-04 flu season, when a particularly tough strain killed 12 kids in Colorado.
The flu season started earlier than normal that year too, but not this early.
The hospital has been stockpiling masks, gowns and gloves since the spring in case of a particularly bad flu season.
“We’re preparing for the possibility that H1N1 influenza and seasonal influenza will be circulating at the same time,” Smith said.
Hundreds of other Coloradans have had H1N1, but the state does not track cases that don’t require hospitalization.
Colorado is faring about average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national flu activity report.
Twenty-one states reported geographically widespread flu, while nine — including Colorado — reported “regional” flu outbreaks within the state.
In the past year, 114 children have died in the United States because of flu, and 46 of those deaths were linked to the H1N1 strain, according to CDC data.
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com
Flu symptoms
It is often
confused with
the common
cold, but flu
symptoms
tend to
develop
quickly and
are usually
more severe.
If you think
your child
may have
H1N1 or
seasonal flu,
call your doctor
for advice.
If the illness
is mild, give
fluids and
acetaminophen
or ibuprofen
and
limit contact
with others.
Source:
Children’s
Hospital
DPS flu meetings
Officials from Denver Public Health and Denver Public Schools will explain how people can protect themselves and their families during this year’s flu season at informational meetings at schools this week. The H1N1 flu forums began Monday and will continue through Thursday. The meetings, presented by Dr. Chris Urbina, director of Denver Public Health, are from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
• Today, West High School, 951 Elati St.
• Thursday, Martin Luther King Jr. Early College, 19535 E. 46th Ave. For more information, contact the DPS Communications Office at 720-423-3627.
