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The Pike County Health Department and Appalachian Regional Healthcare held drive through flu shot clinics this week, dispensing hundreds of immunizations to help stop influenza before it starts. The health department held its clinic at Belfry High School (right), while ARH gave shots from two lines at their South Williamson facility. The health department also held anti-flu drive through services at East Ridge and Shelby Valley high schools, and invited citizens from Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.
HUNTINGTON (AP) — West Virginia has recorded its second swine flu-related death.
The Cabell-Huntington Health Department said Thursday that a 37-year-old person who had other health problems died in a Huntington hospital. No other information was released.
West Virginia’s first H1N1 virus-related death was reported in Cabell County in September.
State Health Officer Kathy Sloan says West Virginia’s first batch of swine flu vaccine is expected to arrive next week. But the state is getting only 10,000 doses, which will go to hospitals and health care workers to ensure continued treatment for people who fall sick with the H1N1 virus this fall.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Louisville woman became the second Kentuckian to die from complications of swine flu, but health officials said the virus gaining a foothold in the state isn’t picking up strength.
The 41-year-old woman’s death on Sept. 21 was caused by pneumonia related to swine flu, officials said.
The death was reported a few days before the scheduled first arrival of swine flu vaccine in Kentucky. The flu outbreak prompted school officials to cancel classes in some Kentucky districts this week.
The latest victim had no apparent underlying medical conditions, making her death unusual for swine flu cases, said Dr. Adewale Troutman, director of the Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness Department.
In the state’s previous swine flu death, officials said the victim — a Fayette County woman in her 50s — had “significant underlying health conditions.” Health officials are trying to determine whether swine flu contributed to another recent death in western Kentucky.
Still, Troutman reported no change in the severity or transmissibility of the H1N1 virus.
“There’s nothing to indicate that the disease is getting any worse,” he said.
Troutman said the swine flu has been no more serious than the regular seasonal flu, and that in most cases people have recovered from H1N1 without medical treatment.
Kentucky’s public health commissioner, Dr. William Hacker, said the flu outbreak is widespread in Kentucky, and called it “a tragedy when we lose a Kentuckian to any illness.”
Hacker told reporters Thursday that the swine flu symptoms are similar to seasonal flu, and so far H1N1 appears no more severe. But he cautioned that influenza has the potential to cause serious illness.
Each year, about 500 Kentuckians die of seasonal flu, according to state health officials.
Kentucky health officials requested swine flu vaccine on Wednesday, the first day for orders, and expect initial shipments of 24,300 nasal spray doses to arrive statewide next week.
The initial batch will go to county and district health departments and be distributed to doctors and other health providers. That first batch will be targeted for certain groups — health care workers under age 50; people ages 49 or under who care for or have close contact with children under 6 months old; and young children and young adults, according to state epidemiologist Dr. Kraig Humbaugh.
Larger shipments of vaccine are expected to arrive in steady fashion for larger segments of the population, and officials said swine flu shots should begin in coming weeks.
Troutman said lab studies so far have found no significant change in the genetic makeup of the swine flu virus. That means the vaccines should be highly effective, he said.
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