Health Alert
FIRST DELAWARE H1N1-RELATED DEATH

Delaware’s Division of Public Health (DPH) has learned of the first H1N1– related death in the 2009 season, a 35 year old female from Kent County who died this morning. The individual had a number of underlying health conditions and had been hospitalized on October 12 in Delaware but was later transferred to a Maryland hospital.

“We are sad to have learned of this, the first H1N1-related death of a Delaware resident. This news is a reminder that while in many cases the flu can be mild, in some cases the flu can be serious, even life threatening. Our heartfelt sympathy is with the family and friends of this individual.” said Dr. Karyl Rattay, DPH director.

There have been approximately 292 flu-related deaths, seasonal and H1N1 combined, in the United States from Aug. 30 until Oct. 10. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Certain groups of people are at higher risk of complications from the H1N1 flu, including people with chronic underlying health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and who are immunosuppressed.

For most healthy people this has been a mild infection.

Precautions to help stop the spread of flu include:

• Get vaccinated against both H1N1 and seasonal flu.
• Wash your hands frequently with soap and warm water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Cover your cough/sneeze with a tissue, or cough/sneeze into your inner elbow and not into your hands.
• If you are sick, stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever goes away. This means no fever for at least 24 hours after you have stopped taking any fever-reducing medication. Employers are encouraged to be flexible with their employees on the issue of staying home when ill.

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