July 13th, 2009
H1N1 swine flu may be worse if you are fat
A study of 10 patients in a Michigan ICU has the press all a-flutter this morning.
A team headed by Dr. Lena Napolitano concluded obesity may be a factor in making this flu worse or, perhaps, killing you.
Almost all the people in the Michigan group were obese, some of them morbidly so, and three died.
The news has made headlines from here to China.
Obesity had not previously been considered a risk factor for H1N1.
Some of the reports accompanied the news with pictures of fat, jolly pigs, which is really an insult to pigs. Modern agriculture has made pigs the Paris Hiltons of the food chain, with loin chops that dry up in a heartbeat because there is no fat to render flavor. Besides, you can’t get this flu from pigs.
The latest CDC flu update shows over 37,000 cases, with over 6,000 in Wisconsin and 31 deaths in California alone. So far the case load is not tracking the fat belt, with svelte California having a 1.5% death rate and overweight Mississippi having just 188 confirmed cases total.
The Administration is hoping a vaccine can be available for groups most at-risk in six months, possibly requiring two shots as well as a seasonal flu shot.
The worst aspect of the Michigan news may be how sites advocating healthy weight, like NaturalNews, are taking this opportunity to lord it over the chubby.
Don’t be obese during the next pandemic. If you are obese now, let this bit of knowledge provide whatever extra motivation you need to drop some excess body fat and reduce the inflammatory burden on your body’s organs. Obesity is, after all, readily reversed through simple changes in diet and exercise habits.
Maybe. But perhaps the last thing our fat friends need right now is another reason to feel guilty.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 07/13/09
