Americans appear to be taking the H1N1 flu more seriously than they did in the spring when the virus began causing widespread illness. The latest poll by USA Today shows that of the 1,007 adults surveyed, one in three believe they or a family member will probably contract H1N1, up from one in five in May. Sixty-one percent now accept the government’s assessment of the novel flu’s risks, up 5 percent since May, and the majority of people, 55 percent, say for the first time they will get vaccinated, up 9 percent.
Seventeen percent say they worried yesterday that they would get flu, up from 8 percent in June. “I’m not surprised to see that worry is increasing,” says Kristine Sheedy, who heads the H1N1 vaccine communication task force for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “When your kids go back to school, you naturally think more about the possibility that they’ll get sick.”
However, despite the increasing concern, the poll showed that 62 percent of people believe it’s unlikely that they or a family member will get sick. Sheedy says that may be the result of a misperception of the number of people who are susceptible to flu. “People recognize that influenza’s out there and that it can be severe, but they say, ‘I’m not personally worried,’” Sheedy says. “That’s one of the big challenges we face. Take seasonal influenza—when we add up the high-risk groups and their close contacts, that’s the majority of the population.”
Research has shown that risk groups differ for H1N1 and seasonal flu; H1N1 cases are concentrated among children and young people, unlike seasonal flu which mainly burdens the elderly. A study released late last week by the CDC shows that children aged 5 to 14 had 14 times the infection rate of adults 60 and older. The H1N1 strain has also taken a toll among pregnant women, who have a death rate of 6 percent. “People think of flu as the common cold,” Sheedy said. “It’s not the common cold. It can be deadly.”
According to an update on the H1N1 pandemic from the World Health Organization (WHO), doctors are reporting a severe form of H1N1 that goes straight to the lungs, causing severe illness in otherwise healthy young people and requiring expensive hospital treatment—as many as 15 percent of H1N1 cases in some countries. “Clinicians from around the world are reporting a very severe form of disease, also in young and otherwise healthy people, which is rarely seen during seasonal influenza infections,” the agency said. “Saving these lives depends on highly specialized and demanding care in intensive care units, usually with long and costly stays.”
WHO is advising countries in the Northern Hemisphere to be prepared for a second wave of the pandemic. “Data continue to show that certain medical conditions increase the risk of severe and fatal illness. These include respiratory disease, notably asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and immunosuppression,” it said, noting that obesity may also worsen the risk of severe infection. “When anticipating the impact of the pandemic as more people become infected, health officials need to be aware that many of these predisposing conditions have become much more widespread in recent decades, thus increasing the pool of vulnerable people.”
An American Red Cross poll released last week indicates that more people are taking precautions against flu. Two-thirds of the 1,002 adults surveyed said they make an effort to cover coughs and wash their hands. “Clearly they’re taking the threat seriously,” said Red Cross research director Sharron Silva. And that appears to be the best course to take for the time being. While vaccine production is under way, the doses have not yet received regulatory approval and authorizes have given no indication as to when vaccinations are likely to begin.
Gregory Hartl, spokesman from the WHO, says at least 2,185 people worldwide have died from H1N1 flu. And though Hartl says that is probably an understatement of the total number of deaths from the pandemic, it would be “unwise” to try to estimate the exact mortality rates from the virus “until after the pandemic is over.”
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