1.Severe infection with H1N1 requiring intensive care--lessons for preparedness programmes.
Jaime M F CHIEN ; Ban Hock TAN ; Kok Soong YANG ; Thuan Tong TAN ; Chian Yong LOW ; Asok KURUP ; Hoe Nam LEONG ; Jenny G H LOW ; Mei Ling KANG ; Maciej Piotr CHLEBICKI ; Yin Ling KOH
Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore 2010;39(4):328-325
INTRODUCTIONThe influenza pandemic has generated much interest in the press and the medical world. We report our experience with 15 cases of severe novel influenza A H1N1 (2009) infections requiring intensive care. The aim of this review is to improve our preparedness for epidemics and pandemics by studying the most severely affected patients.
CLINICAL PICTUREDuring the epidemic, hospitals were required to provide data on all confirmed H1N1 cases admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) to the Ministry of Health. We abstracted information from this dataset for this report. To highlight learning points, we reviewed the case notes of, and report, the fi ve most instructive cases.
TREATMENTThere were 15 cases admitted to an ICU from July 4, 2009 to August 30, 2009. Two patients died.
CONCLUSIONSThe lessons we wish to share include the following: preparedness should include having intermediate-care facilities that also provide single room isolation and skilled nursing abilities, stringent visitor screening should be implemented and influenza may trigger an acute myocardial infarction in persons with risk factors.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype ; Influenza, Human ; physiopathology ; Intensive Care Units ; organization & administration ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Organizational Case Studies ; Severity of Illness Index ; Singapore
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