H1N1 FIASCO IN MARSHALL COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
OUTBREAK BEGINS IN CAMERON
The entire nation has been on alert for the latest strain of influenza since the spring of 2009. The people of the USA have been promised the H1N1 vaccine would be produced and distributed in plenty of time to avert an overwhelming outbreak of H1N1 swine flu.
This outbreak was predicted to occur about early to mid-October of 2009. The vaccine distribution had been such that by early October the only people in Marshall County West Virginia who had obtained a vaccine were health care workers.
During the first week of October 2009 an outbreak of H1N1 began in the Marshall County school system in Cameron, WV (located in the eastern part of the county). None of the students had been vaccinated by that time so the disease ran its course. Marshall County then received an allotment of H1N1 vaccine and rather than allocate to uninfected areas a vaccine program was instituted in Cameron for the week of October 15, 2009. Participation was sparse since the outbreak was over in Cameron. The left over vaccine was not allocated to unaffected parts of Marshall County.
OUTBREAK IN MOUNDSVILLE, GLEN DALE, MC MECHEN BENWOOD
On Saturday October 17,2009 I went to my younger daughter’s house to take a Birthday present to my oldest grandchild. Dakotah was having her 14th birthday party that evening at the Moundsville roller rink. She also had a slumber party with seven of her friends at my daughter’s house that night. There had been no vaccinations in the Moundsville, Glen Dale, Mc Mechen, and Benwood communities (in the western part of Marshall County) at that time. By Tuesday October 20,2009 all seven party attendees were infected with H1N1. Dakotah’s brother Kamron also was infected with H1N1. My younger daughter was unaffected. During the week of October 19-23, 2009 absenteeism reached 50% in the western part of the Marshall County School system. My older daughter brought her three children from Ohio County to Dakotah’s party. They have also been infected with H1N1, but my older daughter and her husband have been unaffected.
The current schedule for vaccination in western Marshall County along with Ohio County is slated to begin during the first week of November 2009. Seems like the horse is out of the barn. THIS IS THE H1N1 FIASCO OF MARSHALL COUNTY WV.
