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On Thursday, Scott Harper, an influenza expert at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, was speaking at a symposium on H1N1 swine flu.  With 356 confirmed cases in the city, the recent pandemic has been striking close to home.  In fact, it recently struck his home.

The epidemiologist was talking about the city’s response to the outbreak at the New York Academy of Sciences, when he let slip the fact that his 9-year-old daughter was ill with swine flu.  Scientific American editor Christine Soares was seated in the audience and says “nobody blinked” as Harper casually recounted his all-too-personal experience with the virus.

Swine flu has killed four people in New York State, and hospitalized more than 100, including no more than 10 patients currently on ventilators in the city.* The outbreak seemed to be waning in recent weeks, but yesterday the city closed 6 additional schools, bringing the total to 13.  Harper has himself been popping up in the news media urging parents with sick children to stay home from school – and he’s apparently heeding his own advice.

“The big picture is not the number of deaths in any given city,” Harper told Newsday on Wednesday, “The big picture is how many cases are occurring.” *

A webcast of the symposium is slated appear on the NYAS website next week.  For more on swine flu read our in-depth report.

Image of woman with mask during swine flu outbreak in Monterrey, Mexico courtesy of Guerry via Flickr

2 Comments

1. 1. rose 08:41 PM 6/1/09

   I do not understand why not more messures are taken in New York. Some people in Germany have been sick after they have been in New York. But the media have reported all the time about Mexico, and Mexico has taken very severe messures, shut down of all the schools, even ther had been no reporting of the flu in this schools, but also shutdown of so many buisnesses, and everybody with protection, why other countries are not doing the same and the blame is on Mexico, but I doubt that it, I think this flu was brought to Mexico from the US, with the Inmigrants who spent sometimes vaccasions in there home towns and villages. Mexico is not used to have a flu season, the weather is to warm for the typical winter flu.

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2. 2. ryan321 01:34 AM 6/2/09

   Transmission of swine influenza virus from pigs to humans is not common and does not always cause human influenza, often only resulting in the production of antibodies in the blood. The meat of the animal poses no risk of transmitting the virus when properly cooked. If transmission does cause human influenza, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People who work with pigs, especially people with intense exposures, are at increased risk of catching swine flu. In the mid-20th century, identification of influenza subtypes became possible, this allows accurate diagnosis of transmission to humans.
   
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