Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009 | 1:25 p.m.
The Southern Nevada Health District today has confirmed two new deaths from the novel H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, bringing the total number of deaths to 10.
The patients were a 41-year-old woman and a 51-year-old man, both of whom had underlying medical conditions, the health district said.
Further information about the woman and the man cannot be released due to federal privacy laws, the health district said.
To date there have been 306 novel flu cases confirmed so far this year in Southern Nevada.
Two patients remain hospitalized with severe illness, the health district said.
Last week the health district received confirmation that a 53-year-old man who died in May had the H1N1 strain.
In June the health district reported the death of a patient from upstate New York, who died in a Las Vegas hospital.
Local, state and federal health officials are preparing to face increasing cases of both seasonal flu and the H1N1 virus.
Federal officials said a vaccine to help prevent the new flu is expected to be ready by mid to late October, but will be distributed to the most vulnerable groups. Young people ages 5 to 24 years old seem to get the novel flu most often, followed by people under 60.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy