Pregnant women infected with the H1N1 virus (swine flu) have a much higher risk of severe illness and death, U.S. government researchers said on Wednesday. While pregnant woman have always had a higher risk of severe disease from influenza in general, the swine flu is taking an exceptionally heavy toll, the researchers said. “We do see a fourfold increase in hospitalization rates among ill pregnant women compared to the general population,” Doctor Denise Jamieson of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a telephone interview. “We're also seeing a relatively large proportion of deaths among pregnant women. We report 13 percent in the paper, but that is a very unstable number based on a small number of deaths reported,” said Jamieson, whose study appears in the journal Lancet. The study was based on the deaths of six pregnant women out of 45 deaths related to H1N1 reported to the CDC between April 15 and June 16. All of the women were healthy prior to infection, and all developed pneumonia and needed to be put on a ventilator. Jamieson said 302 deaths have been officially reported to the CDC from the new H1N1 virus. She said pregnant women do not need to change the way they live because of the new H1N1 flu. “There is no reason to delay pregnancy or to be overly concerned. We do not have evidence that pregnant women have increased susceptibility or are more likely to acquire influenza. It's just that when they have influenza they are at increased risk of having severe disease,” she said. Jamieson said pregnant women who suspect they have influenza should call their doctors promptly. Jamieson also said pregnant women with influenza should be given antiviral drugs as soon as possible, within the first 48 hours to be most effective.
