Fat people are more susceptible to influenza A / H1N1 than ordinary people

After a period of monitoring and treatment, physicians said fat people, despite being healthier, are more likely to be infected with the A / H1N1 flu virus and die more easily than ordinary people.

They described the case of 10 patients in Michigan hospital who were very severe and had to give artificial respiration. Three people were killed. Of these 10 patients, 9 were fat, 7 were very fat (and 2 of 3 died).

Fat people must be more alert to influenza A / H1N1 (Photo: Reuter)

The announcement of the group of doctors posted on the Weekly Newsletter of the Centers for Disease Control and Proposals suggested a doubling of the usual dose of oseltamivir with the trade name Tamiflu.

Virus expert Tim Uyeki said: ' This is the dose recommended by a group of doctors in case of complicated complications in overweight patients'. He added: 'Five of these patients have hematoma in their lungs. This has never happened in patients with flu, though severe, before . '

Doctor Lena Napolitano, of the University of Michigan Medical Center and colleagues who directly treated 10 patients, admitted: 'Out of 10 patients, 9 have a BMI (weight-to-height index) of over 30. and 7 people have BMI above 40. In the treatment plan, we have not considered fat as a concern, only the observation that people with this flu are 'oversized' only '.

In the case of these " slightly special " patients, 9 people had weakened organs, 5 had pulmonary blood, 6 had kidney failure and no one recovered completely.

Influenza A / H1N1 virus started from Mexico, spread to the US since late April was announced as a pandemic in June. The number of deaths increased. According to Uyeki, the virus differs from the seasonal flu virus that spreads strongly in the summer months, attacking most young adults and teenagers. Meanwhile, the H5N1 avian influenza virus is less likely to attack people, and patients usually live after Tamiflu treatment for no more than 5 days.

He has not confirmed whether the doctor's proposal is advisable or not: ' We do not know if the fat patients infected with influenza A / H1N1 virus need to increase the dose. In the past, seasonal effects of the BMI factor of patients have not been shown before .