# 3828
While the H1N1 virus has proved to be a moderate illness for the vast majority of those infected, for a small percentage of mostly younger patients, infection has proved life-threatening.
Betsy McKay of the Wall Street Journal has report today on the severity of illness being seen in ICUs around the world, and how that raises concerns on what we may see this fall and winter in the northern hemisphere.
- OCTOBER 12, 2009, 10:45 A.M. ET
Swine Flu Is Severe for Some, Studies Show
by BETSY MCKAY
Swine flu may be mild for most people, but some become so gravely ill that they require sophisticated techniques, equipment, and aggressive treatment in intensive-care units to survive, according to three new studies.
"This is the most severely ill that we've ever seen people," said Anand Kumar, lead author of one of the studies and ICU attending physician for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority in Canada.
"There's almost two diseases. Patients are either mildly ill or critically ill and require aggressive ICU care. There isn't that much of a middle ground."
JAMA (The Journal of The American Medical Association) has a series of 4 articles published today on the impact of H1N1 on ICUs from around Canada, Mexico, and Australia & New Zealand.
These are freely available without subscription.
Critically Ill Patients With 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) Infection in Canada Published October 12, 2009.
Critically Ill Patients With 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) in Mexico Published October 12, 2009.
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Published October 12, 2009.
Preparing for the Sickest Patients With 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) Published October 12, 2009.
The first two studies outline the experiences of ICUs in Canada and Mexico.
The 3rd study, on ECMO use in Australia & New Zealand, indicates that the average length of time severely ill patients required this heart-lung bypass was a remarkable 10 days. Despite this intervention, patients placed on ECMO saw a 21% mortality rate.
For more information on ECMO, you may wish to revisit my blog The ECMO Option.
The last article is basically a summation of some of the information from the first 3 studies.
All four are worth your time to review.
