New flu strikes lungs: WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged what regular readers of Health Spectator already knew: that the “new” H1N1 swine flu has a tendency to devastate the lungs in at least a significant portion of the people it infects. We reported on July 23 that University of Wisconsin virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka had found H1N1 produces more severe lung lesions than seasonal flu in non-swine mammals.
The WHO currenlty puts the fraction of patients who need intensive care as a result of direct lung infection as high as 15%. Should the same prove true in the U.S. as the new wave of flu strikes this fall, it could put a strain on medical facilities.
The other distinctive trait of the new flu is its tendency to strike harder against the young. Whereas the elderly are normally most affected by seasonal flu, WHO is reporting that H1N1 infection is 20 times more common in the 5-to-24 age bracket than in those over 65. Some believe that the elderly have some natural resistance to the new flu from having been exposed to similar strains in the past. Others attribute the vulnerability of the otherwise healthy to the disease causing a so-called “cytokine storm,” which is an extreme reaction on the part of the immune system that causes more harm than the virus itself. Those with stronger, healthier immune systems are more likely to be severely affected, the reasoning goes.
Although WHO is also reporting a greater susceptibility to new flu among minorities and indigenous populations in South America, it is not clear whether a similar prevalence will result here in the United States. In other countries, the disparity may be the result of differing social conditions and medical care.
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