# 3565
A hat tip to Crof at Crofsblog who picked up and posted this sad story of the first front line HCW (Health Care Worker) from New Zealand to succumb to the pandemic virus.
Swine flu victim first health worker to die
The 39-year-old woman who died of swine flu in Wellington Hospital this week was a front-line health worker at Hutt Hospital, officials have confirmed.
The woman understood to have been a nurse in the children's ward is believed to be the first health worker to die from the virus in New Zealand.
Her death from a rare complication on Monday, after 11 days in intensive care, is the 13th to be officially recorded.
The coroner is investigating another 20 suspected deaths from the virus.
The woman had suffered a miscarriage within the previous two months. Pregnancy is a known risk factor for viral complications. However, it is not known whether she had the virus at the time she miscarried.
We don’t know any of the details of how this woman contracted this virus, and whether or not it was a work related exposure. It is certainly possible she acquired her infection in the greater community rather than at work.
But we do know that HCW’s are at higher risk from this virus than just about any other professional group. Here in the United States, OSHA has created an occupational risk pyramid, and places front line HCWs at the very top.
Occupational Risk Pyramid for Pandemic Influenza
Very High Exposure Risk:
- Healthcare employees (for example, doctors, nurses, paramedics, or dentists) performing aerosol-generating procedures on known or suspected pandemic patients (for example, cough induction procedures, tracheal intubations, bronchoscopies, some dental procedures, or invasive specimen collection).
- Healthcare or laboratory personnel collecting respiratory tract specimens from known or suspected pandemic patients.
High Exposure Risk:
- Healthcare delivery and support staff exposed to known or suspected pandemic patients (for example, doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff that must enter patients' rooms).
- Staff transporting known or suspected pandemic patients (for example, emergency medical technicians).
- Staff performing autopsies on known or suspected pandemic patients.
Reports out of Argentina more than a week ago suggested that a dozen HCWs there may have died from the virus.
A somber reminder that HCWs are at greater risk, and that we need to do all that we can to protect them as they work on the front lines.
