The swine flu death that wasn't

Jun 28 2009

The latest reports say that tests have confirmed that the death of a 26-year-old man from the remote Aboriginal community of Kiwirrkurra was due to other health issues.

The 26-year-old from the remote Aboriginal community of Kiwirrkurra died in the Royal Adelaide Hospital last Friday - he had been diagnosed with the A(H1N1) virus a day earlier and became Australia's first swine fly related fatality but questions were immediately raised about the exact cause of his death.

South Australia's chief medical officer Professor Paddy Phillips said at the time that the 26-year-old was already a sick man and he would be surprised if swine flu was the cause of his death.

The man was apparently in poor health with a number of serious medical conditions and was suffering from pneumonia - he was flown 700 kilometres from his community to Alice Springs Hospital, then later transferred to the Royal Adelaide hospital where he reportedly tested positive for swine flu - however exactly where and when he contracted the virus, was unclear.

Professor Phillips says the man was in a critical condition with life-threatening impairment of a number of organs on the Tuesday before his death and because the doctors treating him were confident in their understanding of the cause of his death and the contributing factors, his case was not referred to the coroner nor was an autopsy performed.

Professor Phillips says he agreed with that decision and the initial acute illness was not due to H1N1 but was a major factor in the deterioration of his other conditions and the subsequent H1N1 infection probably occurred before his transfer to Alice Springs Hospital.

It appears that by the time he was admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, he was already suffering multiple organ failure, from which he did not recover.

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says Australia now has 3,519 officially confirmed cases of swine flu including 168 people who have needed hospital treatment - 36 people remain in hospital including 13 in intensive care and 5 swine flu related deaths. Ms Roxon says most of those who have been hospitalised were people with existing conditions.

Chief Medical Officer Jim Bishop has released guidelines for the treatment of indigenous Australians, who might be particularly susceptible and the government has sent anti-viral medication to rural and remote areas to treat indigenous Australians, if necessary but he says in general, the use of anti-viral medication will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says as Australia is now in the protect phase, swine flu health efforts are focusing on protecting those most vulnerable and the death of the aboriginal man has also prompted a warning from World Health Organisation expert Professor John Mackenzie, that Aboriginal people are at serious risk from swine flu.

Professor Mackenzie, from WHO’s international health regulations committee, says it is inevitable that more Australians will die from the virus and Aboriginal people were more at risk because of the prevalence of diabetes and other chronic diseases among them which means the virus poses a greater threat.