Although Jalisco is the state with the third most deaths from A-H1N1 in 2012, Governor Emilio Gonzalez has said there is no cause for alarm, as health authorities have “everything under control.”
Jalisco has recorded more cases of A-H1N1 than any other Mexico state in 2012. There have already been 554 reported cases and 16 deaths in the state, more than in the past two years combined.
But given the size of Jalisco’s population, it is actually 17th in the country in terms of deaths per inhabitant, Gonzalez pointed out this week. To combat the virus, he announced an intensive vaccination campaign, especially for minors.
Not everyone is as complacent as the governor. It is “criminal” that there have been any deaths at all from the influenza, said Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez Noriega, head of Infectious Diseases at Guadalajara’s Old Civil Hospital.
“Here and in other states, the deaths are because [the victims] were not treated early,” Rodriguez told local daily Milenio. “It is not normal that people die when there is a treatment that, when given early, is 100 percent effective.”
Rodriguez is an expert on influenza in Mexico and his team developed a treatment protocol during the 2009 pandemic that was adopted internationally. Of 700 patients treated for suspected A-H1N1 at the Civil Hospital this year, there has not been a single death.
The key to success, Rodriguez said, is that “all were treated with oseltamivir.” This antiviral drug has been recommended by specialists for the treatment of A-H1N1 since 2009.