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Thursday, November 05, 2009
Swine Flu Kills Two Children
By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Journal Staff Writer
Two children were among six New Mexicans who died of swine flu in the seven-day period ending Wednesday, but the number of people seeking medical care for flu symptoms continued to decline, health officials said.
The deaths included a 4-year-old San Juan County boy without any chronic medical conditions and an 11-year-old Albuquerque boy with health conditions that put him at higher risk of complications, the New Mexico Department of Health reported.
Visits to medical clinics for flulike illness dropped to 9 percent of all patients during the week that ended Wednesday, down from 11 percent last week and 20 percent the week before.
"It's encouraging, at least over the short run, that the numbers are dropping," said Mack Sewell, state epidemiologist.
"That's consistent also with the drop in hospitalizations that we're seeing and anecdotal information from health care facilities," he said.
An additional 97 New Mexicans were hospitalized with swine flu, down from 166 last week and 247 the week before, the agency reported.
In all, 731 New Mexicans have been hospitalized with swine flu this year. Twenty-six people have died, seven of them children.
A growing quantity of swine flu vaccine is arriving in New Mexico, Sewell said. By Wednesday, the state had ordered 187,000 doses.
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