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State health officials are continuing to confirm cases of the H1N1 flu virus in New Hampshire.
The Department of Health and Human Services said that in the week of Sept. 19, 15 samples submitted to the department tested positive for H1N1.
Officials said a total of 47 samples were submitted, and the H1N1 samples were the only ones that tested positive for influenza.

Dartmouth College officials have said that 175 students have reported having flu-like symptoms.
School officials said that the school had tested a random 12 person sample from the group and that approximately two-thirds of those students tested positive for H1N1. Officials did not specify how many students were affected. Additional tests are pending.

H1N1 flu advances in some areas, retreats in others
By telegraph of nashua
Published: Sunday, November 01, 2009

There were mixed signals this week on the growth of H1N1 in the central part of the state: Nashua hospitals saw a slew of flu-like illness in their emergency rooms, but the city’s school system saw flu absences decline back to levels typical for this time of year.

“Overall, the absenteeism numbers seem to be going back to baseline before we started seeing the increase,” said Ashley Conley, epidemiologist with the Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services.

“Part of it is probably because parents were great about keeping their kids out of the schools when they were sick.”

At Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, on the other hand, emergency room visits rose sharply this week, due to what medical officials officially label “influenza-like illness.”

“On an average day we see 110 to 120 patients - now it’s 150 to 160,” said Dr. Joseph Leahy, the hospital’s emergency room director. “That increase has been really a reflection of the flu-like symptoms we’re seeing.”

St. Joseph Hospital has seen a similar increase this week, said Sarah Ward, director of marketing and communications there.

Officials assume that anybody suffering with the flu at the moment has so-called swine flu, since the seasonal flu usually doesn’t arrive until later in the year. The most recent report from the state Department of Health and Human Services says that all of the positive test results it ran on suspected flu last week were due to H1N1.

New Hampshire’s level of H1N1 is at the “widespread” category, the same category in virtually all states. Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control says that H1N1 is continuing to spread, with visits to doctors for flu rising to the point that it is “higher than what is seen during the peak of many regular flu seasons.” Leahy said most patients were coming down with “mild to moderate” flu, requiring relatively few hospitalizations.

As has been the case all along with H1N1, most patients are children or adults.

Hospital officials were happy Friday because they got a relatively large shipment of H1N1 vaccine, which has been slow to arrive because of problems with production.

At Southern New Hampshire, roughly 500 to 600 doses were given to employees to provide protection as they handle an increasing number of people with contagious flu.

PELHAM — A Pelham Elementary School student has died with complications from H1N1. The student had an underlying medical condition, according to fire Chief James Midgley.

Selectmen’s Chairman Robert Haverty said this morning the child was hospitalized in Boston at the time. Haverty said the child had been diagnosed with H1N1.

This is the second New Hampshire death linked to H1N1. A 22-year-old woman died in August from complications from the virus.

“This is the second tragic loss of a child in Pelham,” Haverty said. “My heart goes out to the family.”

Two more deaths related to H1N1 have been reported in New Hampshire.

Health officials did not release any details about the recent deaths except to say they were adults from Strafford and Cheshire counties.

There have now been five H1N1-related deaths in the state. The death of an 8-year-old Pelham boy was announced last week, and relatives of a 37-year-old Sullivan County man said he died of complications related to the virus.

In August, a 22-year-old woman also died of complications from the virus

3 More H1N1-Related Deaths Reported In NH
[...]
Three more deaths related to H1N1 have been reported in New Hampshire.

Health officials did not release any details about the recent deaths except to say they were an adult woman from Strafford County, an adult man from Cheshire County and an adult from Grafton County.
[...]
Dartmouth College sent a letter to the college community on Monday saying that a graduate student who tested positive for H1N1 died, but the family of Henry Masters believed the cause of death was a chronic autoimmune disorder he had.
[...]

A New Hampshire woman has died of complications related to swine flu, bringing the total number of such deaths in the state to seven.

Health and Human Services Department spokeswoman Kris Nielsen said Wednesday a woman from Merrimack County died last week, and that she had underlying medical conditions.

N.H. Has 9th Swine Flu Death
Vaccine May Soon Be Available To General Public
December 11, 2009

CONCORD, N.H. -- New Hampshire health officials could decide as early as next week to make the swine flu vaccine available to the general public.

The vaccine was initially targeted to the most at-risk populations, and access has been expanding over time. Most recently, children and young adults up to age 24 became eligible, along with adults 25 and over with underlying medical conditions.

Public health director Dr. Jose Montero said Friday that about 330,000 doses have been distributed in New Hampshire, but only 54 percent of those have been administered. He said depending on how school-based vaccination clinics go next week, he will review whether eligibility can be expanded to the general public.

The state has had nine deaths related to swine flu this year.

[...]
CONCORD — An adult female from Rockingham County is the state's 10th confirmed H1N1-related death.

Dr. Jose Montero, state director of public health, said yesterday that the woman died in late January. Montero spoke to reporters in a conference call. However, over the last few weeks, there has been almost no flu activity, seasonal or H1N1, Montero said.

"That doesn't mean the flu is completely gone," he said.

Montero warned that people should be vaccinated for the H1N1 and seasonal flus because a third wave of the disease could still strike before the end of the flu season in April.
[...]
Flu season is almost impossible to predict, but Montero said officials are not expecting a third wave of H1N1 to hit the Granite State.