Influenze virus strain H1N1, the causative agent of the 2009 pandemic, continues to spread in the U.S. and Canada with reports from hospital officials claiming eight more people were left dead by the virus.
Hospital officials also reported that around twelve children and adults admitted at the University of Michigan Health System have been put on life support due to H1N1 flu. The patients previously showed no signs of weakness in their immune systems.
Three adults have died in Michigan, confirmed by a health system spokeswoman. The Michigan Department of Community Health also reported the death of an infant from central Michigan due to H1N1 flu symptoms.
"These deaths are among previously healthy individuals. This is not the group that the public usually thinks about as being susceptible to serious illness with influenza," explained the state health department's chief medical executive, Dr. Matt Davis who is also a professor of pediatrics, communicable diseases and internal medicine at the University of Michigan Health System.
A majority of the hospitalized patients were immediately transferred to U-M from their respective hospitals and clinics because of the severeness of their flu symptoms.
Aside from traditional ventilators, the U-M health system also provides tehcnology for infected patients who are unable to breathe on their own called ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. According to Davis, this machine supports both the patient's lungs and heart, providing a more efficient assistance.
It was observed that the patients who were most affected by H1N1 either received the flu vaccine shortly before showing symptoms or did not receive it all, according to infectious diseases specialist, Dr. Sandro Cinti. The vaccine for H1N1 takes a complete 14 days to be fully effective in protecting the patient.
"This looks like 2009, but this time we have a vaccine," added Dr. Cinti.
Simultaneously, patients who show less severe symptoms are recuperating in other hospitals in the area. 11 hospitals in Michigan have reported 121 hospitalizations due to H1N1 flu as of Saturday, according to state surveillance reports.
Dr. Cinti explained that the key to surviving H1N1 flu is not the weather but prevention.
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