H1N1 Indeed Is Sparing Elders

Abstract

Mary Ellen Schneider is with the New York bureau of Elsevier Global Medical News. Only 7% of the hospitalizations for pandemic influenza A(H1N1) infections in the United States this fall have been among people aged 65 and older, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in late October. “This is really, really different from what we see with seasonal flu,” said Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC. With seasonal influenza, about 60% of hospitalizations occur in people aged 65 and older, she said. In terms of death from the H1N1 virus, elderly people again seem to be spared. Among H1N1-confirmed deaths reported in 28 states from Sept. 1 to Oct. 10, about 23% of deaths occurred in people under age 25. About 65% of the deaths were among people aged 25–64 years, with only 12% of reported deaths among people aged 65 and older. This is dramatically different from trends in seasonal influenza, where about 90% of the deaths are typically among the elderly, Dr. Schuchat said. On Oct. 23, the CDC announced that about 1,000 deaths and 20,000 hospitalizations were attributable to H1N1. More than half of the hospitalizations (53%) have occurred among people under age 25 years, and about 39% occurred in people aged 25–64 years old. Since the data are based only on laboratory-confirmed cases of the pandemic flu, officials say that these probably are underestimates of the impact of the H1N1 virus. The hospitalization and death trends observed this fall are similar to those last spring, which contributed to the government's setting of H1N1 vaccination priorities, said Dr. Schuchat. As of Oct. 23, the CDC said that 16.1 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine were available for shipping and 11 million doses were already in communities. The supply was slower in coming than expected, however. Speaking in late October, Dr. Schuchat said that CDC officials expect to see illness from H1N1 for several more months and are preparing for the possibility of another wave of infections next spring. “At CDC, we're planning a long response,” she said. “We don't want to let our guard down too soon on this.”