Asthma, heart disease, diabetes, maybe even obesity are among the conditions used to help explain why swine flu infection is hospitalizing and killing younger people, people who would be expected to make a full recovery from seasonal flu.
It could create the impression that only the sickly are dying from the new H1N1 flu virus – a claim no one is making To the contrary, many, including the World Health Organization, say between one-third and one-half of swine flu deaths have occurred in people who were previously healthy.
But how healthy is previously healthy? The answer depends on who you ask.
Dr. Anand Kumar is a critical care specialist who has been treating swine flu cases in embattled intensive care units in several Winnipeg hospitals.
He says a small portion of the ICU patients look like flu’s typical victims, people with health conditions know to be badly exacerbated by a bout of influenza. But more are younger and – until they got sick – healthier than flu patients hospitals typically see during a regular influenza season.
“For the most part, these young, relatively healthy people aren’t marathon runners or anything like that,” he admits.
“They’re normal people…. If you asked them ‘Are you healthy?’ they’d say ‘Yeah, pretty healthy.”‘
