Rhiza Labs FluTracker Forum

Massachusetts public health officials say a 55-year-old woman with a number of health conditions has become the 12th person in the state to die after contracting swine flu.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced the death Friday but did not disclose the name of the woman, who lived in Middlesex County.
In a statement, the department said the woman had "had multiple underlying health conditions."

The first cases of the H1Ni flu virus, or swine flu, was confirmed at Silver Lake district schools.

A student at Halifax Elementary was diagnosed with the virus Oct. 28, the same day, a child in the preschool program at Silver Lake High School was also diagnosed.
Both children are expected to fully recover.
Although this is the first confirmed case at the high school, Principal Richard Kelley said he expects the virus to spread. He sent a letter to parents this week explaining what staff members are doing in response.
“If we don’t have 20 more cases I don’t know about I’d be surprised,” he said Friday.
Kelley was visiting schools in the western part of the state earlier this week and said many of those schools have been struck hard by H1N1.
“In Shelburne Falls 60 percent of the faculty and students have been absent,” he said.
Kelley does not expect to close the high school due to the flu.

Boston Reports First H1N1 Death This Fall

A 65-year-old Boston man is the first death linked to 2009 H1N1 influenza, also known as swine flu, in Boston this fall, the Boston Public Health Commission said on Tuesday.

The unidentified patient, who had multiple underlying health conditions, was hospitalized Oct. 14. He tested positive for Influenza Type A and died Oct. 31.

Boston health officials were notified Nov. 9 that state laboratory test results came back positive for H1N1.

The patient's death is the fifth attributed to H1N1 influenza in Boston and the 14th in Massachusetts since the pandemic began in the spring.
[...]

Two more Massachusetts residents have died form complications related to the H1N1 virus, health officials said Friday.

The deaths of a child under the age of 4 from Middlesex County and an adult aged 49 to 64 from Suffolk County have both been blamed on the virus, health officials said.

The two most recent deaths bring the total number of deaths blamed on the virus this fall to five statewide, and 17 for the entire H1N1 outbreak of 2009.