"The findings in this report indicate that, as during previous influenza pandemics, bacterial pneumonia is contributing to deaths associated with pandemic H1N1," the team of experts at the CDC and state health departments reported.
The report noted in previous pandemics -- in 1968, 1957 and 1918 -- many of the patients who died were also infected with S. pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus and group A Streptococcus, which causes rheumatic fever and "strep throat".
SHOOT: Swine flu is effectively piggy backing on some other infection...which is why it makes sense to make sure you don't get sick to start off with. Get plenty of sleep, rest, exercise and Vitamin D [sunshine]. And eat a balanced diet, cut out the sodas and other simple sugars.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many people who have died of H1N1 swine flu in the United States have also had bacterial infections, health officials reported on Wednesday.
A study of 77 patients who died of the new pandemic H1N1 virus showed 29 percent of them had so called bacterial co-infections, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
About half of these had Streptococcus pneumoniae, which can be prevented with a vaccine, the CDC said. It said doctors may be missing these infections in people severely ill with flu.
H1N1 is not any more deadly than seasonal influenza so far but it attacks a younger age group than seasonal flu does and because virtually the entire population lacks immunity, it can infect far more people at once than seasonal flu usually does.
The CDC team noted that at first it did not appear that people who were seriously ill with swine flu or who died of it had secondary infections but doctors may have missed them.
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clipped from www.reuters.com
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