Pregnant women among 29 swine-flu deaths in Va.

RICHMOND, Va. - Pregnant women have been among the 29 people in Virginia who have died of H1N1 swine flu, but health officials will not say how many.

"We do know there have been some deaths in Virginia of pregnant women," Dr. Donald Stern, Richmond City Health District director, said during a news briefing yesterday. "We've seen this statewide and nationwide."

Stern did not have specific numbers, and state health officials declined to provide more details on patients, citing patient-privacy issues.

Of the 29 Virginia deaths confirmed as H1N1-related, 18 have been of females, and 11 have been of males. All but one of the victims -- a girl in Amelia County in the Piedmont Health District -- had underlying health conditions, including pregnancy. The deaths include three children.

Children and people with underlying health conditions are among the priority groups to get H1N1 vaccine, and education efforts have focused on alerting them and their health-care providers of their increased risk of severe flu complications.

Experts believe pregnant women are at greater risk because of biological changes during pregnancy.

Dr. Edmund Schoeffler of Virginia Women's Center said about 90 percent of his pregnant patients are opting to get vaccinated.

"There are some patients who are nervous about getting vaccinated," he said. "We respect their concerns. We are not vaccinating patients who don't want to receive it. It's a very small minority."

Schoeffler said pregnant patients with flu symptoms -- fever, cough and sore throat -- or who have been exposed to people with flulike illness are being treated with Tamiflu.

Overall, flulike-illness visits to urgent-care centers and emergency rooms are down to about 5 percent of visits, compared with a high of 14 percent of visits in late October and early this month. Stern said school absence rates are also decreasing.

Virginia has been allocated about 1.2 million doses of H1N1 vaccine. Stern said school-based vaccination clinics in the region are continuing. In addition, vaccine is being provided to colleges and universities, and Richmond is arranging to provide vaccine for outreach in public-housing developments.

Many retail pharmacies, however, still show "out of stock" when searching a locator database for the vaccine.
Contact Tammie Smith at (804) 649-6572 or .