Swine flu 'often fatal during pregnancyhttp://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/6955797/swine-flu-often-fatal-during-pregnancy/By Danny Rose, AAP March 19, 2010, 3:30 pm
Catching swine flu is often life-threatening or fatal for pregnant women and their babies, an Australian study has confirmed ahead of the nation's imminent flu season.
One in ten women in Australia and New Zealand who required admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) for swine flu later died of the infection, according to a study focussed on the 2009 flu season.
It also shows how the pandemic A(H1N1) virus, which began circulating worldwide early last year, also claimed the lives of more than one in ten babies of those mums infected.
Sydney-based Dr Ian Seppelt led the study which tracked the progress of 209 women of child-bearing age and who required treatment in an ICU for swine flu last year. |  |
Just over 30 per cent of the women were either pregnant or had recently given birth.
The study has quantified the additional risk that pregnant women are known to face during an outbreak of pandemic flu.
"It has already been established that pregnant women are at a higher risk of developing influenza complications," Dr Seppelt said in a statement on Friday.
"The effects of influenza during pregnancy have been noted in previous pandemics, particularly the increased morbidity in pregnant women compared with the general population."
Overall, seven of the infected mums (11 per cent) and seven of the babies (12 per cent) died as a result of a swine flu infection during the study window.
Dr Seppelt said a mortality rate for mums of just over one in ten "seems low" when compared to all people who needed treatment for respiratory failure in intensive care.
It was high, however, when compared to factors that typically led to death during pregnancy.
Looking at all of the women, 44 (68 per cent) had to be put on ventilators to assist their breathing and, of these, nine (14 per cent) needed further assistance to help oxygen reach their heart and lungs.
Dr Seppelt said it was also concerning that none of the women in the study had taken their own precautions to avoid a flu infection - they had opted to not have a flu vaccine.
"It is of great concern that none of the women in the study had been immunised against seasonal flu," Dr Seppelt said.
"With strong predictions that swine flu will re-surface and amount for up to 75 per cent of flu cases in 2010, we cannot stress enough how important it is for pregnant women to be immunised."
Australians can still obtain a free swine flu vaccine, provided under a federal government program, by seeing their GP.
The seasonal flu vaccine, made available at workplaces and also via GPs, will also provide protection against the swine flu this year and its release is imminent.
The nation's flu season officially begins in May.
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Topic: Swine Flu in Australia, often fatal during pregnancy, now that it's winter. (Read 4817 times)