First women died by swine flu

The H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu, claimed its first victim in Stanislaus County last week, a 21-year-old woman with prior health problems.
County health officials would not release the woman’s identity or location, but they said she had been hospitalized with severe pneumonia and died July 1. The Modesto Bee reported this week the woman was Rosario Rivera of Ceres.
It was the fourth confirmed case of the flu in Stanislaus County. County Public Health Officer Dr. John Walker said the other three cases were also relatively young adults, which follows the trend of the global pandemic that has sickened nearly 100,000 and killed more than 400 according to the World Health Organization.
Of the 187 swine flu-related deaths in the United States so far, 24 have come in California. While the flu is believed to have originated in Mexico and spread through travel there, Walker said it’s more likely the virus will now act like the typical seasonal flu that appears later in the year.
“We genuinely believe that H1N1 is active in all parts of our county,” Walker said. “As we monitor this outbreak in our county and in California, it’s very clear that it’s no longer related to travel but that it is spread within a community, person to person.”
The county confirmed its first case of swine flu on June 15, a 22-year-old woman who was not hospitalized and fully recovered. Since then, there have been two other confirmed cases, but Walker said both recovered and neither required hospitalization.
According to the state Department of Public Health Web site, Stanislaus is one of only 13 counties in California with a swine flu-related death. San Joaquin County, though it has had 14 confirmed cases, has had no deaths. Merced County has had two confirmed cases and no deaths.
The county is generally advocating standard hygiene like it would during the normal flu season — washing hands regularly, covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze, etc. Walker said the county is trying to walk a fine line by emphasizing the seriousness of the swine flu while not causing any unnecessary panic.
“What we’re trying to do is to alert people that it may be summer, but we have influenza,” Walker said. “We don’t want to alarm them … it’s very similar to seasonal influenza. But we don’t want it to be taken lightly, either, because influenza carries the risk of serious complications.”