Articles: pandemics.
-
Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl · Jan 2011
High mortality in critically ill patients infected with 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) with pneumonia and acute kidney injury.
Patients infected with H1N1 virus may develop pneumonia and acute kidney injury (AKI). To determine the epidemiological characteristics, clinical features, management and out-comes of patients with confirmed H1N1 complicated by pneumonia and AKI and treatment with oseltamivir and to identify the prognostic indicators, we studied all the patients with a confirmed diagnosis of H1N1 infection with pneumonia and AKI, using real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay, between October 2009 and March 2010. H1N1 infection was confirmed in 20 patients with pneumonia and AKI; the mean age was 42.8 ± 18.2 years and 12 (60%) of the patients were males. ⋯ Fifteen (75%) patients required mechanical ventilation and 14 (70%) died. None of the health care workers developed influenza-like illness, when they received oseltamivir prophylaxis. Mortality was associated with higher Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (SOFA), Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score (MODS), XRChest score, in addition to requirement of inotrope, ventilator support, renal replacement therapy (RRT), and presence of underlying risk factor for severe disease.
-
Little is known about the virological and inflammatory responses of severe pandemic 2009 influenza A(H1N1) virus pneumonia during antiviral treatment. ⋯ In severe 2009 H1N1 pneumonia, viral clearance is slow with treatment, particularly in the lower respiratory tract. A more sustained antiviral regime appears warranted.
-
The lessons learned from the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic, as it moves out of the limelight, should not be under-estimated, particularly since the probability of novel influenza epidemics in the near future is not negligible and the potential consequences might be huge. Hence, as the world, particularly the industrialized world, responded to the potentially devastating effects of this novel A-H1N1 strain with substantial resources, reminders of the recurrent loss of life from a well established foe, seasonal influenza, could not be ignored. The uncertainties associated with the reported and expected levels of morbidity and mortality with this novel A-H1N1 live in a backdrop of deaths, over 200,000 hospitalizations, and millions of infections (20% of the population) attributed to seasonal influenza in the USA alone, each year. ⋯ The optimal policies identified might have, if implemented, a substantial impact on the novel H1N1 and seasonal influenza co-circulating dynamics. Specifically, the implementation of antiviral treatment might reduce the number of influenza cases by up to 60% under a reasonable seasonal vaccination strategy, but only by up to 37% when the seasonal vaccine is not available. Optimal social distancing policies alone can be as effective as the combination of multiple policies, reducing the total number of influenza cases by more than 99% within a single outbreak, an unrealistic but theoretically possible outcome for isolated populations with limited resources.