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Commentary
Liverpool
H1N1 Death Cluster Increases to Nine
Recombinomics
Commentary 13:15
January 10, 2011
Mr Hanson, a Liverpool FC fan, was taken to Arrowe Park Hospital by ambulance where he was found to be in a critical condition.
He died, surrounded by his family, on New Year’s Eve, after his organs failed.
At least nine people in the region are already known to have died from the swine flu virus this winter.
Mr Hanson was not considered to be part of the “at- risk” groups, so had not had the flu jab.
The above comments describe the latest reported fatality in the Liverpool are, increasing the cluster to nine. As noted above, this patient did not have an underlying condition and died during the period covered by the latest HPA report, which added 10 more deaths, but all 10 had underlying conditions.
The case above increases the number of Liverpool deaths reported in the media to nine, which represent 20% of the total H1N1 deaths reported by the HPA. Media and anecdotal reports indicate the known death toll is many fold higher than the 45 cited in HPA reports to date, indicating the vast majority of H1N1 deaths are being withheld.
Moreover, the deaths described are almost exclusively those with underlying condition (21/22 of the most recent reported deaths, in contrast to earlier reports of 12/26). This dramatic change of less than half to almost all is not explained in the HPA reports, and clearly represents heavy bias in the release of data.
Concern over the biased release of data is increased by a gag order on information of future H1N1 deaths in England.
This withholding and selective release of data consistent with agency messaging targeting the at risk population, in part because of a significant vaccine shortage, continue to raise pandemic concerns.
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