FED: Common ailments can make swine flu a killer
By Danny Rose, Medical Writer15 Jun 2009 6:45 PM
Subject: FED: Common ailments can make swine flu a killer FED: Common ailments can make swine flu a killer
SYDNEY, June 15 AAP - Asthma and the swine flu are a potentially deadly mix, an Australian expert has warned.
Chronic heart or lung disease and diabetes were other common ailments that could dramatically escalate the risk posed by the A(H1N1) virus.
As Australian cases pushed through 1,500 on Monday, people in at-risk groups are being urged to take extra precautions.
"Around 40 per cent of admissions to hospital with swine flu-related illnesses in the United States have been in people with asthma," says Dr Matthew Peters, Head of Respiratory Medicine at Sydney's Concord Hospital.
"We know the age spectrum of (swine flu-related) admissions has been from early childhood through to the mid 50s, and people with underlying chronic illness are at the greatest risk.
"Asthma is the commonest chronic illness in that age group - so they're all the reasons to worry about asthma in terms of this epidemic."
Australia has one of the highest prevalences of asthma in the world, with one in seven people afflicted with the lung condition.
Dr Peters says Australians with asthma should ensure they have the optimal medication on hand to treat their condition, and if concerned they should see GP for a lung function check.
A similar precautionary approach was needed by "people with any other form of chronic lung disease, younger people with chronic heart disease, people with severe diabetes".
"Also people who have had transplants, who have an underlying blood or immune system disorder," Dr Peters says.
Cardiovascular disease affects 3.7 million - or one in five - Australians while an estimated 1.7 million have diabetes.
Diabetes Australia national president Gary Deed says people with the condition were more likely to require hospital care when they catch the flu.
"Complications such as pneumonia and unstable diabetes, that can result from influenza, are a concern," Mr Deed says.
Associate Professor Roger Allan, a senior cardiologist at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital, says people with heart failure were also at particular risk from swine flu.
"These people walk a tight line between good health and borderline good health, and so an assault from a virus like this can put them into worsening heart failure," Prof Allan says.
"If that happens and is not managed urgently ... it could lead to their death."
Prof Allan says the swine flu's impact on Australia had been "mild" so far but that doctors were expecting a busy winter with virulent strains of the seasonal flu circulating, in addition to swine flu.
About 2,500 Australians in at risk groups die every year from seasonal flu.
The swine flu - for which there is not yet a matched vaccine - is expected to have a compounding effect.
Australia's swine flu tally on Monday increased to 1,542 confirmed cases.
Victoria continues to lead the nation with 1,011 cases followed by NSW (191), Queensland (116), WA (66), SA (60), ACT (48), Tasmania (26), and the NT (24).
There are six people in hospital - four of these are in Victoria and two in South Australia.
AAP dr/ht/de =0A
FED: Common ailments can make swine flu a killer