Swine flu more dangerous for new moms: Study

The researchers from the California Department of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) carried out this study that proposes that pregnant women and new moms are at a greater risk of death due to the swine flu pandemic.

A previous research also has proved that pregnant women who test positive for swine flu are more likely to be hospitalized than normal pregnant women.

Study details
In the present study, the researchers analyzed 94 pregnant women and 8 new mums who were hospitalized during the first four months of the pandemic and before a vaccine was available to fight the H1N1 flu virus.

Majority of the pregnant ladies were in their second or third trimester or had symptoms of fever and cough leading to their hospitalization.

Out of the total women who were part of the present study, 18 pregnant and four new mothers needed intensive care due to severe decline in health. Eight out of these, including 2 new moms, died due to unavailability of timely medication for the swine flu treatment.
The researchers claim that the pandemic may considerably raise the overall maternal mortality rate for the year 2009. Currently, four pregnant women per 100,000 live births die due to swine flu in California.

“This is unusual in that an infectious disease may increase the overall mortality rate,” says Dr. Denise Jamieson from CDC.

Early treatment is the only cure for flu prevention
“The evidence is very strong that the risks of not starting early treatment are quite high. Likewise vaccination; vaccination protects not only the pregnant woman, but also the fetus when it’s born, for the first couple of weeks,” says Janice Louie, lead author of the study and chief of influenza and respiratory diseases at California Department of Public Health.

Reportedly, tests have shown that the anti-flu vaccine is safe for pregnant women and new moms. The CDC also recommends women planning on having a baby to get themselves vaccinated.

Swine flu update
Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of CDC says, “As of mid-November there were an estimated 47 million confirmed cases of H1N1 in the United States, 213,000 hospitalizations and nearly 10,000 deaths.”

“That is fewer than the 36,000 who die annually from seasonal flu. What gives that number added significance is that 1,000 of the swine flu deaths were children,” he adds.

It may be noted that H1N1 flu virus mostly attacks the young, and 90 percent of the swine flu deaths have been found in people less than 65 years of age.