[health-vn] TB patients, HIV+ & diabetics at higher risk from swine flu

[Vern Weitzel]

Subject: 	[AIDS-Beyond-Borders] HIV/AIDS and Swine Flu
Date: 	Mon, 11 May 2009 09:13:29 +0530
From: 	Sweety Prem Kumar R <dr.r.sweetypremkumar at gmail.com>
Reply-To: 	AIDS-Beyond-Borders at googlegroups.com
To: 	AIDS-Beyond-Borders at googlegroups.com
CC: 	kounteya.sinha at timesgroup.com



Swine Flu has become the latest target for HIV/AIDS, if one goes by the
following news that has appeared in today's Times of India.

Dr. R.S. Prem Kumar


MORE BAD NEWS

*‘TB patients, HIV+ & diabetics at higher risk from swine flu’ *

11 May 2009, Times of India, New Delhi

*/Kounteya Sinha | TNN /*


New Delhi: A crucial finding by clinicians in Mexico, the country where
the deadly H1N1 flu virus originated, could have India worried.

Initial observations made by the WHO, Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Mexican clinicians who studied the first 40 deaths in
Mexico show that people with underlying conditions like asthma,
cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), immunosuppressive illnesses like HIV,
diabetes and TB appear to be at greater risk of hospitalisation or death
if infected with H1N1.

India, which is yet to report a positive H1N1 infection, and is
presently testing the throat sample of a Jet Airways ground staff in
Delhi for H1N1 infection, has the dubious distinction of having the
largest number of people with such illnesses. India diagnoses 1.8
million new cases of TB every year with 370,000 deaths. The country is
home to 2.35 million HIV positive people and has 15 million asthmatics.
CVDs have become the leading cause of death with heart attacks projected
to kill 2 million by 2010.

Even though experts said the finding was preliminary, they agreed that a
few trends had begun to emerge. V M Katoch, ICMR’s director general
said, “People with HIV, TB and CVDs are in high risk group. Outbreak of
H1N1 could pose a problem. They have to be better looked after in case
of a positive infection.”

Sylvie Briand, project leader of WHO’s global Influenza Programme, said,
“We reviewed all the severe cases that Mexico had and were able to
differentiate two types of people that are at risk of severe illness.
One group had who got sick and experienced rapid deterioration of their
health with most of them having died of acute viral pneumonia. The
second group had people with chronic underlying conditions such as
diabetes, TB, cardiovascular diseases. In these people, viral pneumonia
progressed into acute respiratory distress. So they died mostly of
respiratory and major organ failure.”