# 3233
Having been young once, and now trying getting older on for size, I can definitely say that being young is better. But apparently there may be one small consolation prize for those of us born prior to 1957.
We may have some partial degree of immunity to the novel H1N1 virus.
Statistically speaking, most of those hit by the virus have been under the age of 50.
Not all, mind you. But most.
We may get more details tomorrow when the CDC publishes a new MMWR report on serological testing done on those over the age of 52.
Of course, being over 52 is no guarantee you won’t get the flu, or that if you do, it will be mild. We’ve already seen a number of hospitalizations, and at least one death, among older patients.
This update from Bloomberg.
Adults Older Than 52 May Resist Swine Flu, CDC Says (Update2)
May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Adults older than 52 may have been exposed to a virus that gives some protection against swine flu, explaining why younger people account for the largest percentage of those hospitalized, a U.S. scientist said.
The virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic circulated until a bird flu virus replaced it in a 1957 world outbreak, Daniel Jernigan, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention influenza division, told reporters today. Exposure to the earlier virus “may allow you to have some protection” to swine flu, Jernigan said.
Swine flu, called H1N1, has sickened more than 10,000 people in 41 countries, according to the World Health Organization. Researchers have been trying to explain why more than 60 percent of U.S. cases have been among those aged 5 to 25, Jernigan said. Swine flu also lands people younger than 50 in the hospital more often than seasonal flu.
“It’s one of the few good reasons to be over the age of 50,” Robert Belshe, director of St. Louis University’s vaccine center, said today in an interview. People born before 1957 were probably infected with a swine flu relative that left antibodies giving some natural immunity, he said.
