H1N1 – Young and Obese at risk ?
by Divvy Kant Upadhyay, Manipal
- In August, 1 out of every 4 samples sent from Kerala to the Govt certified lab at Manipal had tested positive for H1N1.
- Overall, more than Half of the positive cases (~65)were between the age groups of 18-30 years.
Manipal, Sep 11: For a nation whose 54 percent population is believed to be aged less than 30, H1N1 may continue to remain a cause for concern. Apart from people already suffering from some form of underlying disease, scientific reports suggest that average healthy young people might be at risk and so may be pregnant mothers, diabetics and even the obese.
As time passes by, analysis of data on H1N1 is being done across the world. The lab at Kasturba Medical College in Manipal was certified as a regional centre for testing and diagnosing H1N1 by the Government in the first week of July. Since then till Tuesday, 8th September it has received close to 600 samples. KMC Manipal virologist Dr Arun Kumar who is supervising the H1N1 testing lab analyzed data of 509 samples received till 29th August. As high as 78 percent of those samples at KMC Manipal had arrived from Kerala. The remaining from Coastal Karnataka (21 %) and Goa (1%).
The point to note is that more than half of the cases that tested positive (~65) were from the age group of 18-30 years. Out of the 509 samples, roughly 128 samples tested positive. Interestingly, from Kerala one out of every four samples sent tested positive (97 out of 395 samples). Dr Arun feels most of these were from incoming travelers screened at the Kerala airports.
Till August end, of the samples sent to Manipal, only two deaths were recorded – one in Kerala and one in Goa. Dr Arun says that “most of the cases were travel associated or transmission from close contacts. Community spread cases like in Pune were negligible from among those samples sent to the lab at Manipal”
Eurosurveillance – a journal published by the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has quoted studies from ongoing research led by the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (Institut de Veille Sanitaire, InVS) and published by ‘Nature’, CDC-Atlanta, USA, and New England Journal of Medicine in saying that the H1N1 pandemic is far from over and deaths will unfortunately continue to occur.
The report analyses the characteristics of 574 deaths associated with pandemic H1N1 influenza up to 16 July 2009. It adds that data (except from Canada and Australia) suggest that the elderly may to some extent be protected from infection. There was underlying disease in at least half of the fatal cases. Two risk factors seem of particular importance: pregnancy and metabolic condition (including obesity which has not been considered as risk factor in previous pandemics or seasonal influenza). The report says that the role of obesity, however, remains to be further analysed in order to ascertain whether the risk is linked with complications of obesity during intensive care or with a severe course of disease due to diabetes frequently associated with obesity.
The report released at the end of August suggests that as in previous pandemics, compared to younger age groups, the elderly seem to be protected from infection to some extent, perhaps due to previous exposure to strains akin to influenza A(H1N1)v virus. When infection does occur, however, the percentage of deaths in elderly cases seems to be higher than in others.
Avoiding unnecessary presence in large crowds or gatherings, maintaining good levels of hygiene and eating healthy food seem the best bet to keep trouble at bay.