reply to post by operation mindcrime
You don't want who for facts so I'll figure you don't want the cdc for facts either. Will India do then?
NEW DELHI: Children aged between 10 and 14 years are proving most vulnerable to the deadly H1N1 influenza virus, reveals a health ministry analysis.
Rida Shaikh (14), India's first swine flu fatality, is also part of this category.
The ministry's analysis of swine flu cases in India so far has shown that the majority of those infected are aged between 10 and 39 years. Almost 350
of 507 positive cases of H1N1 in India belong to this age group (the number of cases has since risen to 558). The largest number of those infected are
in the 10-19 (179 cases) and 20-29 (96 cases) age group. Those in the 10-14 age group have so far proved the most susceptible, with 96 cases in just
this five-year bracket. Nearly 48% (245 cases) were school-going children.
This marks a break from the global experience. Most viruses that are capable of causing global pandemics tend to infect those in the productive age
group -- around 25 years of age.
Only 26 positive cases were children who were up to four years of age (an equal number of boys and girls). There were 66 cases in the 5-9 age group.
On the other hand, 65 cases were aged 40 years and above.
The analysis also looked at the gender pattern. The maximum number of males who got infected (73) belonged to the age group of 20-29. In case of
females, the maximum number of those infected (62) belonged to the age group of 10-14 years.
The difference is marginal between sexes in the 40 and above age group, with 32 men and 33 women in this bracket testing positive.
Speaking about these findings, professor of medicine at All India Institute of Medical Sciences Dr Randeep Guleria told TOI, "This could be because
the young travel much more and are more often in crowded places like schools, colleges and offices, unlike toddlers and the elderly. However, at
present we are only screening people travelling abroad or those in infected schools."
ICMR director general Dr V M Katoch told TOI that the elderly could be having some immunity against the virus. "A clear trend of which age group is
most vulnerable to the virus will emerge in another month when internal transmission will peak and secondary infections will rise. With 18 labs across
India now capable of testing samples, a clear trend is bound to emerge soon."
Earlier, responding to a TOI question on what has been the nature of the virus globally till now, WHO's assistant director-general Dr Keiji Fukuda
said from Geneva, "We don't still understand why the infection is showing up more in the younger population - those below the age of 60 in all
countries. The average age of those infected is in the mid-20s.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com...