Another Death Linked to Flu in Santa Cruz County

Another person has died from the flu in Santa Cruz County, said health officials. A health officer for Santa Cruz County confirmed that a man who is under 50-years-old is the latest flu victim in the county. This is the third death that is being linked to the flu in Santa Cruz County this season.

The H1N1 strain is the most prevalent and already has potentially caused at least three deaths in Santa Cruz County and put four more patients in the Intensive Care Unit. Two more people are in the Monterey County Intensive Care Unit, and hospitals are taking extra precautions to deal with this spike.

“There’s multiple types of flu — in fact there is 600 that we know about, and every year the Center for Disease Control finds more,” says Debra Johnson, an R.N. and manager of Infection and Prevention Control at Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System.