Minorities greater risk of swine flu

Young people are more at risk of getting swine flu, and pregnant women, among others, have a higher chance of hospitalization from the new flu. Now public health officials are discovering that blacks and Latinos have a substantially higher risk of both.

It is apparently not because of race or ethnicity, per se; it’s because of the social circumstances of many African-Americans and Hispanics.

The new data are from Boston health authorities. Federal health officials are studying flu disparities on a national basis but haven’t released numbers yet.

In Boston, the disproportionate effect of swine flu on minorities is striking.

Blacks make up one-quarter of the city’s population, but they were 37 percent of the swine flu cases. Latinos are 14 percent of the population, but more than one-third of those with confirmed cases of the new H1N1 virus this spring and summer were Latino.

Dr. Anita Barry of the Boston Public Health Commission says she and her colleagues didn’t expect such large disparities.

There is another troubling disparity in the new data. Blacks and Hispanics were also twice as likely to require hospitalization for the new H1N1 virus — that is, their infections were more severe than those of nonminorities.

That reflects another kind of disparity. About half of the hospitalized cases of swine flu involved people with asthma, which is more prevalent among African-Americans and Latinos.

Boston officials have counted four deaths from swine flu so far: two blacks, one Latino and one white. That’s too few to draw any conclusions about disparities in the risk of death.

Given the new data, Boston officials plan to target minority neighborhoods in upcoming flu-vaccination campaigns. Like their counterparts across the country, they will probably have to persuade people to come in three times for flu shots: once, early in the season, to be vaccinated against regular seasonal flu; then, later, twice to get swine flu vaccine. Because it is a novel vaccine, it is assumed that people will need two shots to get adequate antibodies.

Dr. Steve Tringale of Codman Square Health Center says it is hard for low-income people to make time for flu shots.

“That’s always a challenge, to come back a second time for full protection,“ Tringale says. “Taking the time off work or getting babysitters or whatever it takes is always going to be an effort for patients.“

To address that problem, Boston Mayor Tom Menino is asking all businesses to give workers time off to get flu shots.