Saturday, October 10, 2009

76 total US child deaths from swine flu in 2009/WaPo

From the Washington Post:

According to the Post, 19 of the 76 deaths occurred during the past week. But according to CDC, the 19 deaths actually occurred between July 19 and October 3.  They were reported last week.

So far, approximately one in a million US children have died from swine flu-associated causes.  But only 23 or less were entirely healthy:
While most of the children who have died have had other health problems that made them particularly vulnerable, such as asthma, muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy, 20 to 30 percent were otherwise healthy, Schuchat said.
Therefore, one in ten deaths occurred in children under 18 years, who comprise about 20% of the population.  At least 28 pregnant women have died, and at least 800 total Americans. Update 10/16:  I mistakenly used the total number of deaths in the world earlier.  Current US deaths are 800-1000.

Only 1 in 30 deaths occurred in pregnant women.  Which indicates that pregnant women are at a bit greater risk of death than anyone else.  Still, why are we vaccinating women during pregnancy when not a single trial of safety in pregnancy has been reported?  Protecting the fetus has to be given due weight as well, when calculating risk and benefit during pregnancy.

No comments: