Two area residents die of H1N1 flu

By Jinae West

Thursday, July 30, 2009 | 4:44 p.m.

Two Clark County residents have died of the H1N1 flu strain in the past week.

A 35-year-old woman died July 24 and a 73-year-old man died July 27, which brings the total to five H1N1-related deaths in the county. As of today, there have been 210 confirmed cases in Clark County.

The last reported swine flu death was July 17 when a 47-year-old man with underlying medical conditions died.

Jennifer Sizemore, public information manager for the health district, said the woman did not have any underlying medical conditions; however, the man had a pre-exisiting condition that made him susceptible to a more severe case of the flu.

"We've been reminding people this is a new strain of the flu. It's behaving much like our seasonal flu does," she said. "Most people are not reporting severe illnesses, and if they do have underlying medical conditions and they feel sick, they should talk to their doctor."

Sizemore recommended washing hands, covering the mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing and staying home when feeling under the weather.

She said for the upcoming flu season, the health district will be updating information to its Web site as quickly as possible to let the public know what they should do to keep healthy.

As the flu strain evolves, she said, so will the health district's recommendations.

"(Flu season) is always unpredictable. It might be mild or severe. There's no way to predict until it happens, and because we have this different element, it does add to the unpredictable nature," she said.