H1N1 death in Australia + THE LINK BETWEEN PNEUMONIA AND FLU

SHOOT: The media and some medical experts are either intentionally or negligently spreading the news that some people who have flu died of 'other complications'. And 'pneumonia' is then invariably cited. Well, here's how it works. When healthy adults die of the flu, it is USUALLY because it BECOMES pneumonia. Pneumonia is really inflammation of the lungs. I've experienced a housemate in Korea with serious pneumonia. It involves getting very sick, weakened and coughing up blood. And it's life threatening. Pneumonia is invaribaly preceded by a chornic flu. To say someone died of pneumonia but not flu is like saying someone drowned because they were unable to breathe, and then suggesting water might be irrelevant. Er...it's VERY relevant.

Pneumonia can develop about 5 days after the flu symptoms of fever, cough, and muscle aches start. There is swelling (inflammation) in the lungs, and the person has trouble breathing that gets worse and worse until they die.

clipped from www.reuters.com SYDNEY, June 19 (Reuters) - An Australian man diagnosed with H1N1 died on Friday, but health officials said the 26-year-old man did not die from "swine flu". South Australia state health officials told Reuters that the man who died at Royal Adelaide Hospital had several major illnesses, but did not say exactly how he died. "Although the patient was diagnosed as positive for swine flu yesterday, his other medical conditions had dramatically deterioriated by the time he got to Adelaide," said South Australia state chief medical officer Paddy Phillips. "It is with deep sadness and regret that we announce his death, and we offer our most sincere condolences to his family." Australian radio said the man, from a remote aboriginal community in Western Australia state, was flown to Adelaide for medical treatment for pneumonia. Australia has more than 2,199 cases of H1N1, with several patients in intensive care, but it has not recorded a death from the influenza.