Articles: pandemics.
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To identify the resource usage by patients with influenza A H1N1 admitted to Australian and New Zealand intensive care units during the first wave of the pandemic in June, July and August 2009. ⋯ Low rates of admission of H1N1 patients to ICUs during the 2009 pandemic enabled the intensive care system to cope with the large demand when analysed at a jurisdictional level.
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Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz · Dec 2010
[Pandemic preparedness planning. What did we learn from the influenza pandemic (H1N1) 2009?].
Since 2001, the German states and federal institutions have been engaged in systematic pandemic preparedness planning. Preparedness was largely in an advanced stage and most probably contributed to successful control of the influenza H1N1 (2009) pandemic in Germany. ⋯ The proper balance between a uniform national approach and the local adaptation of measures within Germany remains another challenge. Although the course of the influenza pandemic (H1N1) 2009 was moderate, pandemic preparedness planning remains of utmost importance and must be adapted rigorously and early according to the recent experience.
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The failure of life-critical systems such as mechanical ventilators in the wake of a pandemic or a disaster may result in death, and therefore, state and federal government agencies must have precautions in place to ensure availability, reliability, and predictability through comprehensive preparedness and response plans. ⋯ The authors present and describe the AGILITIES Score Ventilator Triage System and provide related guidelines to be adopted uniformly by government agencies and hospitals. This scoring system and the set ofguidelines are to be used iA disaster settings, such as Hurricane Katrina, and are based on three key factors: relative health, duration of time on mechanical ventilation, and patients' use of resources during a disaster. For any event requiring large numbers of ventilators for patients, the United States is woefully unprepared. The deficiencies in this aspect of preparedness include (1) lack of accountability for physical ventilators, (2) lack of understanding with which healthcare professionals can safely operate these ventilators, (3) lack of understanding from where additional ventilator resources exist, and (4) a triage strategy to provide ventilator support to those patients with the greatest chances of survival.
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Clin J Am Soc Nephrol · Nov 2010
Characteristics of acute kidney injury in patients infected with the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus.
There have been few studies investigating acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients infected with the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the factors associated with AKI in H1N1-infected patients. ⋯ Among critically ill H1N1-infected patients, the incidence of AKI is high. In such patients, AKI is mainly attributable to shock.