A Family Left Behind: Los Angeles Times

Photo Credits: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times / January 18, 2010

Today, the Los Angeles Times featured a story about Virginia Roma, a pregnant mother who tragically lost her life due to pneumonia, believed to have been a complication of the H1N1 virus.  According to health officials...

[Pregnant women] have been hospitalized at four times the rate of the general population and have died at six times the average rate, according to various estimates. In a study of 63 pregnant women in California who were hospitalized with H1N1 between April 23 and Aug. 11,61 were so sick they were placed in intensive care. Seventeen died.

Virginia is survived by her husband, Miguel, who now cares for their six children ranging in age from 15 years old to 7 months.

The article goes into detail about why pregnant women are at greater risk if they get the H1N1 flu:

Hormones and the immune system also change during pregnancy, which makes it harder for pregnant women like Virginia to fight infection. Further, statistics released earlier this month by the state Department of Public Health show that in California, Latinos have been twice as likely as whites to die from H1N1, in part because they have less access to healthcare and are more likely to have other chronic health problems or wait longer to seek help.

Read the full story about Virginia and her family at the Los Angeles Times here.


More information and resources on H1N1 for Pregnant Women are available here.
To find the nearest location to get the H1N1 vaccination, visit http://www.FluShotLA.com.