Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait's office reported that the victim was a middle-aged man who died in mid-October after hospitalization with the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus.
Tait reported that health officials hadn't been able to count the man's death as official until definitive
laboratory test results were completed.
“We know that H1N1 is present throughout our community, as it is throughout the nation,” Tait said Monday, offering her condolences to the family.
The vast majority of those cases, Tait said, will include mild or moderate illness, with the patients recovering.
She said Lake County man who died had underlying health conditions that may have placed him at risk for severe H1N1 illness. The man died from secondary complications, Tait said.
So far, 249 H1N1 deaths have been reported statewide, with a total of 4,047 hospitalizations, according to the California Department of Public Health.
A vaccine for H1N1 has begun arriving in Lake and neighboring Mendocino County in limited supplies and isn't yet widely available, health officials from both counties reported Monday.
Lake County's first H1N1 flu case was confirmed in a 39-year-old woman in June, as Lake County News has reported.
Health officials continue to advise people to take the following precautions to avoid spreading the virus:
Stay home when you are sick with flu-like symptoms (fever and cough or sore throat).
Avoid close contact with others as much as possible (two arms lengths away).
Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Cover your mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing, and always wash your hands afterwards or use alcohol-based hand cleaners.
Wash your hands frequently.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.
Anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms should call their health care provider if they have severe
symptoms, trouble breathing, are pregnant, or have underlying medical conditions such as asthma, chronic disease, or neuromuscular disorders.
A tool to assist in self-evaluation of influenza symptoms can be found at www.flu.gov . More
information about influenza also is available at www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/discond/pages/swineinfluenza.aspx .
Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .
