Postcard from Latin America #5

Dr. Richard Wenzel writes from Argentina:

Schools are closed, and will be for 4 weeks, and all high risk, young adults (e.g., pregnant women) are not allowed to work. Only young adults screened at hospitals can get oseltamivir. Met with the Minister of Health of Buenos Aires, and he told me yesterday that of 85 deaths in the region - half of the total deaths in Argentina- one fourth were in pregnant women. In Sao Paulo, Sergio Wey told me that there pregnancy was the leading risk factor for severity. In Argentina obesity is a close second risk factor for dying with H1N1. Also in Argentina I was told that diarrhea occurred in 10-20 percent, in the 12 percent range I heard about in Mexico. So far no one has tested stool for virus. I also heard about severe cases in Chile and Argentina in solid organ and bone marrow transplant patients. Not sure how many were nosocomial.