Lessons learned from the H1N1 pandemic
By Scott LaFee, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
Monday, May 3, 2010
In early April of last year, a Mexican government worker named Adela María Gutiérrez fell ill. Wracked by fever, aches and lethargy, Gutiérrez thought she was suffering from a very bad cold and acted accordingly, treating herself with aspirin, moist towels and bed rest. A local clinic gave her antibiotics. Nothing worked.
Finally, after a week, Gutiérrez sought help at the General Hospital in the city of Oaxaca. She felt listless and struggled to breathe. Her limbs were blue from a lack of oxygen. A lab test revealed a viral infection, but it was a flu bug doctors had not seen before. They began treatment. Nothing worked. Gutiérrez died on April 13, 2009. She was 39, the first known fatality caused by a new strain of influenza called H1N1.
On the same day Gutiérrez died, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention learned of a similar case involving a 10-year-old boy in San Diego County, also infected with an unidentified respiratory illness. A second case in Imperial County appeared four days later. These were the first known U.S. cases of H1N1.
The boy and girl recovered. More alarming to health authorities was how fast the virus was spreading. Within a week, there would be confirmed H1N1 cases scattered across the United States, Europe and Asia. These would multiply like, well, a virus. On June 11 — just 58 days after Gutiérrez’s death — the World Health Organization declared that H1N1 had reached “pandemic” status. The virus had gone global.
