KENOSHA COUNTY - Health department officials said Friday the county has very likely experienced its first H1N1-related death.

Lab testing must still be done to confirm that the dead adult individual had H1N1, or swine flu. But the person more than likely had the illness "based on clinical symptoms and due to the current circulation of influenza," said Cynthia Johnson, director of nursing for the Kenosha County Health Department.

Initial rapid testing in this case by ACL Laboratories came back positive for Influenza A. Now an additional test must be done by a state lab to determine if the subtype of the dead individual's influenza virus is H1N1, said Stacey Wians, epidemiologist for the Kenosha County Health Department.

"Ninety-nine percent of those tests come back as H1N1," Wians said. "More than likely it will come up confirmed."

State and local health departments should have confirmation early next week, she said.

"They try to turn those around as quickly as possible," said Stephanie Marquis, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. "They also need to rule out other health issues."

Initial testing results came back Friday but the individual died earlier. Kenosha County Health Department officials and the Kenosha County Medical Examiner's office could not provide the exact date of the individual's death.

Officials are not releasing his or her name, sex, age, race or residence location out of respect for the family.

"The individual did have underlying medical conditions," Johnson said, adding that such conditions usually make people more susceptible to H1N1 and more likely to have severe cases.

"For most people, the H1N1 flu is not severe," said Frank Matteo, Kenosha County Health Department health officer, in a press release Friday. "However, we know that the virus can be especially dangerous for children, individuals with compromised immune systems and those with chronic health illnesses."

About 36,000 people in the U.S. also typically die each year from seasonal flues while only about 1,000 nationally have died from H1N1 so far, said Margaret Hennessy, head of the Immunization Taskforce for Wheaton Franciscan Health Care.

The state of Wisconsin has had 14 confirmed deaths due to H1N1 since this spring, according to the Department of Health Services. A death reported in Rock County Thursday would bring that number to 15, and, if confirmed, the death in Kenosha County would be the 16th, Marquis said.

As of Wednesday, the state department reported visits to doctors for influenza-like illnesses had increased steeply and are higher than what is usually seen during the peak of the regular flu season. And flu-related hospitalizations and deaths were continuing to go up across the nation.

 

Video courtesy Channel 12.