Aug 09
12
Pregnant Women Beware the H1N1
We talked last time a little bit about breast feeding and how it could actually save childrens lives if the education and support for breast feeding mothers was increased rather than the encouragement of breast formula in poor or disaster areas as is currently mostly the practice now. Well, I figured it was important to write about the dangers that the H1N1 virus, or formerly known as the swine flu virus, pose to women who are pregnant, and also to children who are younger due to a compromised immune response and underdeveloped immune system and antibodies. This is another reason breast feeding may be important, it could strengthen young childrens immune responses to scary new flus and viruses that cause problems in those normally with compromised immune systems.
Experts are not sure yet if pregnant women are getting swine flu more easily than others, or even why that would be, but there is definitely a higher percentage of pregnant women who are being hospitalized for the virus when compared to the rest of the population, due to more severe complications, for whatever reason. It is particularly dangerous to pregnant women for this reason, and so they have been cautioned to be extra careful about coming into contact with it or putting themselves at higher risk for getting it.
For this reason, it has been encouraged that stores of Tamiflu, which has been shown effective against the swine flu virus, be reserved more so for pregnant women, and that they be given priority to receive this treatment if it comes up. There are no reports on Tamflu shortages yet, but that could happen, especially since experts are predicting that the H1N1 virus will hit us full swing in the fall, when flus usually hit and colds are extra virulent. So far, the swine flu virus has proven to not be as bad as once hyped, and there is still research being done on why the deaths in Mexico were so disproportionate to the deaths from the flu here in the US.
What initially caused all the concern was that it seemed to break out especially widely in Mexico, and the deaths reported and feared were much more than they have been so far here, although we have heard periodically of people dying from the flu here in the US, but no more than any other run of the mill flu.
