Pregnant women have been among the victims of the H1N1 swine flu virus since the first cases were found in April 2009. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported Thursday that 100 pregnant women infected with the virus were hospitalized in intensive care units in the first four months of the outbreak. There were 28 fatalities.
Health officials are urging pregnant women to get the H1N1 vaccine as soon as it is available. They also suggest that all pregnant women get the season flu shot as well. Both vaccines can be given on the same day. It is best to have the shots at different locations on the body, such as one in the right arm, one in the left.
A pregnant woman who gets any type of flu has a greater chance for serious health problems. Compared with people in general who get 2009 H1N1 flu (formerly called “swine flu”), pregnant women with 2009 H1N1 flu are more likely to be admitted to hospitals. Pregnant women are also more likely to have serious illness and death from 2009 H1N1 flu.
“It’s hard to say if what we’re seeing now is out of the ordinary compared to the how pregnant women have been affected by the seasonal flu,” said Tom Skinner, CDC spokesman. “But what we are hearing from physicians around the country is that they’ve never seen pregnant women impacted like this by the flu… and so we’re going to have to some more research to understand if this is a unique situation to the this new virus.”
Public health authorities state that pregnant women are among the five initial target groups that should be offered the pandemic H1N1 vaccine as soon as it is available. An initial 600,000 doses of the nasal-spray form of the vaccine will arrive in 25 states and cities by Tuesday but this is not to be used on pregnant women. They will have to wait for the injectable vaccine which should start distribution shortly after the nasal vaccine comes out.
According to the CDC, when a pregnant woman gets a flu shot, it can protect both her and her baby. Research has found that pregnant women who had a flu shot get sick less often with the flu than do pregnant women who did not get a flu shot. Babies born to mothers who had a flu shot in pregnancy also get sick with flu less often than do babies whose mothers did not get a flu shot.
Written by Cheryl Phillips
Exclusive to HULIQ.com
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