First Licking County H1N1 Related-Death

The Licking County Health Department is confirming its first H1N1 related death.

Health Commisisoner, Joe Ebel, says a 53-year-old Newark man was hospitalized at OSU Medical Center and died back on October 21st.

He says the health department just got lab confirmation yesterday from the Ohio Department of Health.

"I haven’t seen the death certificate to know exactly if the H1N1 was a contributing factor or the primary cause of death, " says Ebel.

Ebel says while more young people seem to be getting the H1N1 virus, anyone can die from H1N1 if they have underlying health conditions.

So, Ebel says the health department is doing all it can to get people vaccinated. It has already administered three thousand H1N1 vaccinations to high-risk groups, and it just received a new shipment yesterday with another three thousand vaccines.

Ebel says the health department will hold three h1-n1 clinics this week.

"Today, we’ve expanded into children that are six months and up to six if they are healthy or have an underlying health condition, " says Ebel.

The health department is also now vaccinating 19 to 24-year-olds with underlying health conditions.

Ebel says there have been 24 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus, and he says that number is small compared to the number of unconfirmed H1N1 cases really out there.