Swine Flu 4.99: Sound Bites

I spoke at some length to Mr Juan Gonzalez at Daily News yesterday, with this result:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/10/07/2009-10-07_unspoken_minority_toll_swine_flus_bigger_impact_on_blacks_and_hispanics_is_not_b.html

Some of the points that came up in the conversation but did not make it into the article are worth reiterating:

Mr Gonzales told me that most authorities now consider H1N1 to be more likely to produce complications such as pneumonia than seasonal flu, especially in Black and Hispanic patients. That was, on one hand, to be expected, based on the difference between the original high mortality in Mexico during the early phase of the pandemic, and the much lower mortality in the US; on the other hand, we just did not see this pattern in our practice. Some of the previous seasons, 2000/01 and 2004/05 if I remember correctly, had much higher rates of complications. I attributed the difference to our practice being much more aggressive with early detection and early treatment with Tamiflu, preventing many of the complications that could have been expected with more conservative care. On the other hand, we hardly used any Tamiflu at all for prophylaxis, expecting (correctly) that such use may produce resistant strains with more likelihood than short-course treatment of sick individuals:

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_antiviral_use_20090925/en/index.html

I will also refer (again) to my Fox interview, back in April, in which I went over the reasons the flu may have been more severe for Mexican victims:

http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/22200273/swine-flu-reality.htm

I would certainly concur with Mr Gonzalez’s call for more studies to determine the common risk factors that militate toward poor outcomes in Black and Latino children: not only would it help these children, but the results of such studies are always useful in protecting other populations where risk factors may be present at lower prevalences. Vitamin D deficiency and obesity are in no way limited by race or ethnicity. Diseases are not “racist”, as some commentators to Mr Gonzalez’s article suggested, but there are always genetic, cultural and socioeconomic factors that influence outcomes. The more we know about that, the better for everyone.

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