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An image of the H1N1 influenza virus
A 5-year-old girl from Rio Rancho and a Roosevelt County infant are the latest New Mexicans to have died from the H1N1 virus, the state Health Department announced Thursday evening.
Parents of students enrolled at Rio Rancho schools were notified Thursday night of the child’s death by an automated calling system.The Albuquerque Journal identified the Rio Rancho girl as Trinity “Trin” Olivares, 5, who died Monday evening.
Her death came just a day after complaining of nausea, the girl’s mother, Danelle Olivares, 31, told Journal reporter Olivier Uttyebrouck. “Trinity began feeling ill Sunday night and stayed home from school Monday as her nausea and vomiting became more severe, Olivares said. The girl’s parents took her to a hospital Monday afternoon, about three hours before her death,” Uttyebrouck wrote.
The Roosevelt County infant, a female, died this week of the virus, according to the Department of Health.
The two deaths bring to seven the number of New Mexicans who have died from the H1N1 virus, commonly referred to as “swine flu.”
“Our sympathies go out to the families who are dealing with the loss of their children,” Health Secretary Alfredo Vigil, MD, said in a press release. “These tragic events should remind all New Mexicans that flu can be a serious and sometimes deadly disease.”
Influenza can cause serious complications and even death in people who are otherwise healthy, Vigil said.
The state health secretary went on to encourage New Mexicans to “wash their hands frequently and cover their mouth and nose when sneezing and coughing” to minimize the spread of the disease.
“Stay home and keep your kids home when they’re sick for 24 hours after the fever is gone,” Vigil added.
He also encouraged New Mexicans to “get vaccinated against seasonal flu, and if you’re in a high risk group, get vaccinated against H1N1 when the vaccine is available.”
The Department of Health expects to receive the first shipment of H1N1 vaccine in mid-October, the release said.
The Department of Health is advising those who should receive the vaccine first are “pregnant women, household members/caretakers of infants less than 6 months old, children 6 to 59 months of age, children 5 to 18 years with certain chronic health conditions that increase their risk of complications, and healthcare workers and emergency medical service personnel with direct patient care.”
The Department also advised individuals in high risk groups to get vaccinated immediately against seasonal flu. The high risk groups are:
Residents of long-term care facilities Persons ages 2-64 years with chronic health conditions, such as asthma or other breathing problems, kidney disease, heart disease, diabetes, muscle or nerve disorders that can lead to breathing or swallowing problems, and children on long-term aspirin therapy. Children age 6 months up to their 19th birthday Persons ages 50 years and older Pregnant women Healthcare workers who provide direct patient care Household contacts and out-of-home caregivers of children up to age 5, or anyone at increased risk of flu complications
The Department of Health started shipping seasonal flu vaccine to public health offices, the Department’s long-term care facilities and private providers statewide this week, according to the news release.
New Mexicans should contact their health care providers to receive flu vaccine. The Department’s public health offices provide seasonal flu vaccine to people who are at high risk for serious illness and people who have no health insurance.
The death of the two children this week by the H1N1 virus fits into a larger national picture of a virus that is spreading rapidly across the nation, the New York Times reported Thursday.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of immunization and respiratory disease at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters on Thursday that there was “significant flu activity in virtually all states. Most states do have quite a lot of disease right now, and that’s unusual for this time of year,” according to a transcript provided by the CDC of Schuchat’s briefing.
In addition to Trinity Olivares and the Roosevelt County infant, five other New Mexicans have died of H1N1 virus this year, the state health agency said:
The other five deaths are as follows: a 45-year-old female from Sierra County with end stage liver disease, a 52-year-old female from Bernalillo County with chronic pulmonary disease, a 48-year-old female from McKinley County with asthma and diabetes, a 21-year-old female from Los Alamos County without chronic medical conditions, and a 58-year-old male from Bernalillo County with chronic conditions that put him at risk for serious complications from the flu.
For information about scheduled flu shot clinics, call Nurse Advice New Mexico toll-free at 866-681-5872 or go online to www.nmivc.org/cliniclist.php.
Public health offices are listed in the phonebook’s blue pages under state government. Contact information for public health offices is also listed at www.nmhealth.org.
