More information needed to calm fears of swine flu

Alittle boy who recently completed the first grade at the Lucy N. Holman School in Jackson died from swine flu on June 27. The Ocean County Health Department issued a press release announcing that county's first death from what is also known as the H1N1 virus.

The press release stated that the child from Jackson was admitted to the hospital on June 25 and died on June 27. The press release noted that the child had "underlying medical issues."

While our hearts go out to the parents and family members of the child who passed away, the phrase "underlying medical issues" seems to be thrown around like a Frisbee these days. Meanwhile, parents of youngsters all around the United States and now especially in Jackson, are wondering what will happen if their child gets the swine flu. Can the youngster die from it?

The public needs to know more about the underlying issues health officials are talking about. A catch phrase like "underlying medical issues," without any further explanation, is as meaningless to the general public as telling us that our elected officials must act with more "transparency."

What the heck does that mean?

I am not suggesting that health officials should reveal the names of those who die from swine flu — an obituary in a local newspaper made it clear who the youth from Jackson was — but they should provide the specific reasons for the deaths of those who have contracted this particular strain of the flu, especially the victims who are so very young.

The press release issued by the health department gives the usual information about how to prevent the spread of the virus, i.e., by washing hands, by not sneezing on people, by throwing away tissues; in short, the usual barrage of the same old information. But the press release gives not an inkling about why this child died or how the swine flu affected whatever his underlying medical issues were.

Was the little boy from Jackson a diabetic? Did he have a heart condition, or a respiratory or blood condition that perhaps had given him an already-weakened or compromised immune system before he even contracted the H1N1 virus?

As I write this, no answers to those questions have been provided, and a lack of knowledge promotes fear, and fear for the health, wellbeing and safety of one's children should never be underestimated.

Granted, privacy laws may preclude identifying the specific underlying medical conditions of an individual, but without naming names, health officials could reveal the medical problems of the other 127 H1N1 victims in the United States — problems that may have contributed to their deaths.

Health officials in Ocean County and around the country need to provide a more comprehensive picture of why people are dying from a flu that initially was supposed to be no more dangerous than any other flu; the only difference really being that this was new and something we had no vaccine to fight.

This is a clear picture of N.E.I. (Not Enough Information), and parents all around the country, and especially in Jackson this week, need to know — how scared do they really have to be?

Clare Marie Celano, a staff writer with Greater Media Newspapers, has a background in nursing.