A woman in her 50s from Custer County died of H1N1 flu late last week, the first such death involving a Nebraskan, the state's chief medical officer said Wednesday.
Dr. Joann Schaefer declined to name the person but said heart disease and chronic lung disease contributed to the toll H1N1 took on the woman.
Dr. Tom Safranek, the state's epidemiologist, indicated physicians struggled to diagnose the infection. She was transferred from a hospital in Broken Bow to a hospital in Lincoln, then was moved to a second Lincoln hospital, Safranek said.
Schaefer said the H1N1 diagnosis wasn't finalized until this morning.
Schaefer encouraged the public to stay calm but vigilant as H1N1 cases in Nebraska and nationwide rise. Nebraska's cases stood at 264 as of today, Schaefer said, and one patient is in critical condition with the virus.
President Barack Obama announced last week that the federal government hoped to produce a vaccine against H1N1 flu by fall.
No Iowans have died of H1N1 flu. There have been 155 confirmed cases in Iowa. Nationwide, more than 37,200 H1N1 cases have been confirmed with more than 210 deaths.
A former mayor of Boys Town, Treat Huber, died of H1N1 flu in May. Huber, 20. died in a Chicago hospital after giving birth to a girl. Nationwide, 36,000 to 40,000 people die annually of the common seasonal flu.
Schaefer said she had no estimate of the number who die of seasonal flu in Nebraska. There are no known cases of seasonal flu now in the state, she said.
Schaefer said the public can take action to combat H1N1 flu. She advised that people wash their hands frequently, avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth, and stay home if ill. “Everybody has a part in the response to the virus,” she said.
She also noted that it's hard to say what will happen next with regard to the flu. “The only thing predictable about influenza is that it's unpredictable.”
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