Utah child dies of H1N1: 489 people confirmed to have virus, state says

A second Utahn has died after contracting the H1N1 flu virus, and while the spread of the disease is slowing in some states, the number of Utah residents per capita who have had it is now third highest in the nation.

Pam Davenport, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake Valley Health Department, said the second death was a child under age 18 with "chronic underlying conditions." Both Utahns who died after contracting the disease have been Salt Lake Valley residents. Health officials would not release more details about the child who died.

Dr. Dagmar Vitek, Salt Lake Valley Health Department medical director, said she's not sure why Salt Lake County is one area where the virus continues to spread rapidly, with 330 confirmed cases and two deaths.

"Overall in the U.S. we are seeing the trends decreasing. There are going to be pockets, and Salt Lake County is one of those, where we still see numbers increasing. I don't think we've peaked yet. I still think we'll see more cases and hospitalizations as well as the number of deaths increasing," she said.

Based on census population estimates as of July 1, and the number of people contracting the disease, Utah ranks third nationally based on numbers of cases by state as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday — one case per 7,416 residents.

Because the CDC numbers by state lag behind reporting of confirmed cases by individual states, the 369 cases reported by the CDC for Utah reflect the number on Monday.

By Thursday, the number of Utah cases had jumped by another 120, meaning the rate per capita had grown to one case per 5,596 residents.

Of the 489 confirmed cases reported statewide by the Utah Department of Health, 35 people have been hospitalized, four of them pregnant women.

A preliminary analysis of hospitalized patients shows 41 percent have at least one of the underlying conditions that puts them at higher risk of severe illness or complications from the disease, Vitek said.

"So far, the most common risk factors in Salt Lake County have been asthma, an underlying risk factor among 21 percent of the hospitalized cases, and pregnancy, a risk factor among 9 percent of the hospitalized cases," she said.

As has been the case elsewhere, the H1N1 flu virus continues to be more prevalent among the young. The average age in Salt Lake County is 16, with the majority of cases reported in people ages 5 to 24.

"Pregnant women, children under the age of 5, and people with pre-existing chronic medical conditions seem to be in the 'high-risk' category," said state epidemiologist Dr. Robert Rolfs. He said most of the hospitalized cases, and both of the deaths, fall into these high-risk categories.