> Updated: Wednesday, 04 Nov 2009, 6:40 PM EST
> Published : Wednesday, 04 Nov 2009, 6:39 PM EST

>      * Stephanie Harris

> CHESAPEAKE, Va. - When Angela Mefford got the flu last week she followed
> her doctors orders. "Neither one of us was really too concerned about it
> cause it was all about the small kids and the older adults," husband
> Hank Mefford told WAVY.com.

> Mefford was not pregnant and didn't have asthma or any other health
> conditions that would put her in the high risk group. At least her
> husband didn't think so. "Last thing I got to say to her was I love you
> and I'll see you tomorrow."

> But Angela did have something that likely contributed to her death.

> Chesapeake Health Director Dr. Nancy Welch is bound by patient privacy
> laws so she can't reveal Angela's condition, but can confirm she had
> something the Centers For Disease Control has found to be an underlying
> risk.

> WAVY.com investigated and found the CDC looked at tissue samples from 77
> people who died from H1N1 between May and August. The study found 22 of
> them, nearly one in three, had bacterial infections. 10 had a form of
> bacteria which includes acute Sinusitis and Meningitis. Some others had
> Staph, a common skin infection. A few more had a form that includes
> Group A Strep.
> "Which is why it's so very important that you know the signs and
> symptoms to go see a doctor," Dr. Welch asserted.

> Angela did seek treatment, but pneumonia took over too quickly, leaving
> her husband, 8-year-old daughter and 7-month-old son in a place they
> never imagined. "We never even talked about it or what would happen if
> one of us went, because we were so young," said Hank Mefford.

> If you have a bacterial infection, Dr. Welch advises you stay home,
> whether you have a risk or not, get plenty of rest and drink plenty of
> liquids.

> If you do have complications, can't keep liquids down, have trouble
> breathing or your fever goes away and then comes back then go to a
> doctor right away.

> --
> Steven L.
> Email:  sdlit...@earthlinkNOSPAM.net
> Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me.