Wednesday, July 1, 2009

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Two more H1N1 deaths reported in Mass.

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• Second H1N1 death reported in Mass.

BOSTON -- Two more deaths in Boston have been linked to H1N1, bringing the total number of H1N1 related deaths to four in Massachusetts, health officials announced Wednesday.

One Boston resident was a 52-year-old man who died at his home on June 26. Test results came back indicating he was positive for H1N1 influenza.

The second Boston resident was a 30-year-old man who was hospitalized on June 15 and died June 29. He is a probable case of H1N1 influenza; the confirmatory test for H1N1 is pending at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

On Monday, local and state public health officials announced that test results confirmed that the death of an 84-year-old Boston man on June 18 was linked to H1N1 influenza.

The first reported H1N1-related death in Massachusetts was a 30-year-old Boston woman who died June 14.

Despite the four deaths, officials said the evidence shows decreasing influenza-like illness in Boston.

In Boston, there have been 475 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu and 70 hospitalizations since spring when the virus first surfaced. Massachusetts has reported 1287 confirmed cases and 134 hospitalizations. By contrast, seasonal influenza causes 250,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths each year nationwide.

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