A previously healthy 14 year-old girl has become the latest victim of the A(H1N1) influenza here in the Netherlands.
 
The announcement of the latest fatality comes on the same day as reports that the disease has reached epidemic levels in the country.

There have only been six fatalities in the Netherlands due to H1N1, including this latest case. Up to now all fatality cases had underlying health problems.
 
In an interview with Radio Netherlands Worldwide's Dutch service Professor Roel Couthino from the Dutch Institute of  Public Healtht said it was unusual for a healthy person to die from flu.

"In this case the young girl became ill very quickly. We don't know exactly why she died , it could have been a lung infection or an overreaction by her body to the illness."

Healthy fatalities
Professor Coutinho says it is impossible to tell how someone will react to a flu infection. Healthy young people have also died in other countries after being infected with H1N1, Couthino says this has less to do with the virus itself but more to do with the reactions people have to it. The institute for public health will conduct further inquiries into the girl's death.  

The report of the teenager's death came in a weekly overview from the institute.  A second fatality was also reported this week, that of a 40-year-old man with underlying health problems. In the past week 10 people a day have been admitted to hospital with the disease. The institute stresses that although the H1N1, known as swine flu and here in the Netherlands as Mexican flu, virus is a mild strain, there are cases of healthy people dying.

Epidemic levels
The institute also reports that levels of the flu in the Netherlands have reached light epidemic levels. The finding is based on figures from family doctors up and down the country. In the past week the numbers of people being admitted to hospital with H1N1 has doubled. Most of them are younger than 65. This week, the incidence was highest among babies and toddlers. Previous weeks have shown a peak in hospital admissions among 15 to 24 year-olds. However the group most in need of intensive care were the 5 to 14-year-olds.

This would suggest that children and young people are most vulnerable to the disease, but this group has not been included in the upcoming government inoculation programme due to begin at the end of the month. The first group due to be called up are the over-60s who would normally receive winter flu jabs. They will be followed by pregnant women and medical staff.

An official epidemic is reported when doctors see more than 55 people in two consecutive weeks with the disease out of every 100,000 people in the Netherlands. Health institute Nivel, which helped compile the figures, says between 5 and 11 October doctors saw 69 cases per 100,000 people, and the same number in the next week.
 
Every two weeks, Radio Netherlands Worldwide speaks to Ab Osterhaus, virologist at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. This week, he told Davion Ford about the vaccination programmes being adopted around the world: