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CDC official: 28 pregnant women have died of H1N1 flu, first vaccine doses available early next week – MedCity Morning Read, Oct. 2, 2009

During an H1N1 flu briefing Thursday, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released some startling facts about the virus’ toll on pregnant women. As of late August, 28 pregnant women in the United States had died of H1N1 flu and 100 had been hospitalized in intensive care, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.

By Sarah Latson on October 02, 2009
Image by Nrbelex via Flickr

ATLANTA, Georgia – During an H1N1 flu briefing Thursday, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released some startling facts about the virus’ toll on pregnant women.

As of late August, 28 pregnant women in the United States had died of H1N1 flu and 100 had been hospitalized in intensive care, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.

“The H1N1 influenza in pregnancy has really been striking,” Schuchat said. “We have obstetricians here at CDC who are coordinating the outreach as well as the surveillance efforts around it. And they’re talking to doctors around the country who have never seen this kind of thing before.”

In the past, Schuchat said, the CDC didn’t track seasonal flu complications in pregnancy. So, she added, “whether this is more common or people are just noticing it because we’re attending to this H1N1 virus, it’s difficult to say.”

Schuchat also provided an update on the availability of H1N1 flu vaccine. She said about 600,000 doses of the nasal-spray form will arrive in 25 areas Tuesday. Those entities – which include 21 states and four cities, according to the Associated Press – placed orders on Wednesday.

Schuchat said the nasal spray is a “good vaccine,” but cannot be used in everyone. She noted it is safe and effective for people aged 2 through 49 who are not pregnant and do not have chronic medical conditions.

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The Associated Press reported that the CDC expects to ship 6 million to 7 million doses of vaccine, including the injectable kind, by the end of next week. The second week of October will bring about 40 million doses, the AP said.

Most states are expected to make the first doses available to health-care workers, The Washington Post reported. Some are taking the effort a step further: New York state now requires hospital, home-health and hospice workers to get both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines, The New York Times reported last month.

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