NYC Swine Flu Death

It's now being reported that Mitchell Wiener, an assistant principal of a high school in Queens, NY died of swine flu yesterday. Previously, when he was hospitalized last week, NY's Mayor Michael Bloomberg was quoted in the NY Post as saying that Mr. Wiener had "a pre-exisiting" health condition. As far as I've been able to find, now word of what that pre-existing condition has been stated in the media. Instead, we are being told simply that swine flu killed Mr. Wiener.

But did it?

Before that question can be answered, the following questions must also be asked:

What was Mr. Wiener's pre-exisiting condition?

How long did he have it (from the pictures of him now appearing in the media, neither he nor his wife look healthy and both are overweight)?

While hospitalized, was he exposed to infectious bacteria and/or viruses? (Hospitals are notorious for being breeding grounds for such infectious agents; as a result, many people in the US each year die from infections that they did not have prior to being hospitalized.)

What was Mr. Wiener's immune status prior to being exposed to H1N1 (swine flu)?

By all accounts, Mr. Wiener was an exemplary educator who went well beyond the call of duty when it came to his job description, and his passing is a tragic loss for all who knew him. But we still do not know for certain whether or not H1N1 was the primary factor in his passing. And even if it was, there is still no call for alarm. Mahy people regularly die from "normal" flu-related causes, too. When they do, it isn't front page news.