Obesity a Factor In Swine Flu Deaths

Posted by: Curt | Under: General Fitness | (0) Comments

MSNBC’s latest article on the Swine Flu makes the point that obese people are at significantly higher risk for dying from the H1N1 Swine Flu virus.

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“Obesity has been observed to be one of the risk factors for more severe reaction to H1N1″ — something never before seen, Kieny added. It is not clear if obese people may have undiagnosed health problems that make them susceptible, or if obesity in and of itself is a risk.

On Friday, a team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Michigan reported that nine out of 10 patients treated in an intensive care unit there were obese. They also had unusual symptoms such as blood clots in the lungs and multiple organ failure.

None have recovered and three died.

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I suspect that the lower overall health of most obese persons along with what is usually a poor diet and lack of exercise makes them much higher risk for severe problems. When you start off from an already lowered state of heath, you would expect this. So, if you know someone who is overweight or obese, encourage them to make strides toward a more healthy lifestyle because they won’t be able to fall back on the age old excuse of “I can do it later”… the flu kills very quickly, and there is no later.