Older Americans Have Some Immunity to Swine Flu, but It’s Not Absolute

When they do contract a severe case of flu, they face greater risk

By: Katharine Greider | Source: AARP Bulletin Today | November 11, 2009

One of the most surprising characteristics of the pandemic H1N1 flu virus galloping across the country this fall is the way it tends to spare older people, striking hardest among the young. More than half of U.S. patients hospitalized with the so-called swine flu have been under the age of 25. Small studies have found that people over age 60 have some antibodies to the bug.

But, whatever immunity to H1N1 older people may enjoy, it’s definitely not foolproof. A recent report on H1N1 cases in California injects a note of caution about the risk profile of people age 50-plus. While they were less likely to get a severe case of H1N1 flu, those who did were more likely than younger people to lose that battle and die.

Published Nov. 4 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study examined the first 1,088 H1N1 cases in California that required hospitalization or resulted in death, the bulk of them occurring between last spring and early summer. The median age of these sick patients was only 27, with about a third under 18. While those 50 and older were underrepresented in the group, their fatality rate was 18 to 20 percent, compared with only 11 percent overall.

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U.S. Races To Get Millions Of Swine Flu Doses Ready

New technologies could speed up production

By Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Sept. 5, 2009 11:33 p.m.

In a contest that pits human against virus, the U.S. government is evaluating the safety and effectiveness of swine flu vaccine in hopes of having millions of doses ready for use before the next wave of the pandemic H1N1 sweeps across the nation.

This week the virus struck first, infecting a handful of students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; an additional 25 to 30 are awaiting results of a swine flu test.

Across the United States, thousands of other students have reported influenza symptoms, though many have not been tested for swine flu, according to college officials and a survey by the American College Health Association.

"Well, I think it's going to be a race," said Douglas Reding, vice president of the Marshfield Clinic. "It could potentially be neck and neck depending on when the next outbreak occurs."

At the Milwaukee Health Department, Medical Director Geoffrey Swain said: "I've got my fingers crossed. I'm hopeful that the swine flu outbreak will not have picked up a lot of steam before we get a lot of vaccine."

The race comes at a time when the federal government is in the midst of a multibillion-dollar effort to boost America's flu vaccine capacity and just as vaccine makers are moving into new technologies. Read the rest of the story.

Swine Flu Should Not Close Most Schools, Federal Officials Say

By: Denise Grady of The New York Times

Published: August 8, 2009

Most schools should be able to stay open even if swine flu outbreaks occur again this fall, government officials said Friday as they issued recommendations for dealing with the illness when the school year starts.

Decisions about whether to close schools should be made locally, the officials said, and “should balance the goal of reducing the number of people who become seriously ill or die from influenza with the goal of minimizing social disruption and safety risks to children,” which sometimes occur when schools close.
The nation has 130,000 schools, 55 million students and 7 million staff members. Closing schools may mean that parents have to stay home or find child care, which some cannot afford. People in essential jobs, like health care, may be stuck at home during outbreaks when they are most needed. In some cases, children may wind up being left home alone or going to the mall, where they can spread the H1N1 flu virus.
The secretaries of education, homeland security and health and human services described the guidelines for schools with grades kindergarten through 12 on Friday at a news briefing in Washington, along with the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Guidelines for colleges and employers are set to be issued on Aug. 23.
“It’s now clear that closure of schools is rarely indicated, even if H1N1 is in the school,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the disease control centers, though he added that closings might be necessary if so many people were sick that the school could not function, or if parents persisted in sending sick children to school.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said that some schools “will have to close,” and that administrators should be making plans to continue schooling at home, via telephones and the Internet.
Emphasizing that vaccination is the best way to prevent the spread of the flu, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the vaccine against the H1N1 virus should be ready by October. People will probably need two shots of the new vaccine, in addition to one shot for seasonal flu. Children and young people ages 6 months to 24 years are to be given priority for the H1N1 vaccine, and vaccination clinics may be set up in some schools.
The advice to schools includes telling staff members and students to stay home when they are sick and not to return for at least 24 hours after the fever goes away. This differs from earlier guidelines, which advised staying home for seven days.
Schools are also urged to set up a separate room where students and staff members who do come to school sick can stay until they can be sent home. They should be given masks to wear, and so should the people looking after them.
Special schools for sick children or pregnant teenagers, both high-risk groups, may need to close, Dr. Frieden said.
The guidelines also say that if the flu becomes more severe, additional measures may be needed, like screening staff members and students daily, telling people at high risk and those with sick family members to stay home, and increasing the distance between people at school by moving the desks farther apart.