Credit: Ott Family
It seemed like everyone knew someone who had the H1N1 strain of the flu – known as the “swine flu” during a previous outbreak -this season. According to state officials, after several years of laying quiet, the H1N1 strain was back and accounted for nearly 88 percent of all reported cases in the state.
Noelle Ott of Levittown was among those who was hit hard by the H1N1 strain of the flu. She spent weeks in hospitals and needed special equipment to stay alive, her mother, Francine Ott, recently told LevittownNow.com.
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“I saw her laying there in the hospital and I thought I was going to lose her,” her mother said. “She was pregnant when she went in the hospital and lost the baby.”
For Francine Ott, watching her daughter slowly recover from the illness has been hard.
Noelle Ott, a dance instructor and accountant, fell ill in early February and ended up needing the equipment to sustain life. The H1N1 strain was last widespread in 2009 and 2010 and data shows it killed more than 18,300 across the nation that year. State officials say 98 people this season have died of the flu and there have been 405 confirmed cases of H1N1 in Bucks County.
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“The predominant strain that we’re seeing in the state of PA is H1N1. It’s a strain that causes more severe illness in young adults and children,” Aimee Tysarczyk, press secretary for the PA Department of Health, recently told ABC 27.
Reports indicate that some of the ill patients suffered from respiratory complications that were caused by the virus or secondary infections.
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This year, unlike past years, the flu vaccine covered the H1N1 strain.
Nationally there was a increase in the number of deaths of H1N1 during this flu season, especially for adults, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sixty percent of those hospitalized for influenza have been between the ages 18 to 64 which is somewhat unusualsince H1N1 usually affects older adults or the very young, CDC data shows.
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In Levittown, the story of Jaylea Heim, a 7- year old who was on a family trip to Disney when she contracted the illness, received attention since she is so young.
The reemergence of H1N1 in the United States comes as even more virulent strains that are combinations of several genetic strains begin to appear around the world, the World Health Organization has reported.
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Francine Ott said she urges everyone to get the flu shot after her daughter life-threatening experience. Noelle Ott still has a long road to full recovery, but her mother is confident she will get there.
