We now know more about a young woman who died from complications related to the swine flu.
Adela Chevalier's was the first such death in San Diego County.
“We knew it was only a matter of time before we would see a local death,” said Wilma Wooten, San Diego County’s public health officer.
Chevalier, 20, was a single woman living in an apartment in San Marcos with her brother.
Doctors at Palomar Medical Center said Chevalier felt ill last Friday and gradually got worse throughout the weekend. On Monday, her mother took her to the ER at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido where she had to be put into a wheelchair because she was too weak to walk.
"She had various symptoms, low grade fever, history of cough, severe muscle pains."said Dr. Don Herip.
About an hour and a half later, preliminary tests showed that Adela had the H1N1 virus. By mid afternoon she was dead.
Chelvalier graduated from Valley High School in Escondido last year and worked at a KFC in San Marcos.
“We anticipate to see more deaths, so I don't think this will be the last death we see in San Diego,” Wooten said.
Chevalier’s death is the seventh swine-flu death in California; 44 people have died around the United States. Most of those victims were less than 50 years of age.
Wooten said that Chevalier’s death is a reminder that swine flu is not going away.
“It's still out there,” Wooten said. “We are still reporting cases every day. We're up to 275, and again, we feel it's just the tip of the iceberg, not only for San Diego but worldwide.”
A swine flu vaccine is still in development, with clinical trials testing its safety set for later this summer. If Centers for Disease Control officials determine a vaccine is needed, young children may be the first to get it.
The question officials now have is: Come fall, will the virus be less potent or will it come back with a vengeance>?
”It depends on the mutation, whether that is a mutation that is going to increase in severity or not, we don't know,” Wooten said. “We'll just have to wait and see.”
