Critical H1N1 Common in Kids With Chronic Respiratory Illness

A new study has said that children with chronic illness, especially respiratory illness, are more likely to develop H1N1 influenza.

The study has been published in the March issue of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM).

Swine Flu | Swine Influenza | Hog Flu | Pig Flu
Swine flu, a type of influenza caused by a new strain of the H1N1 Type A influenza virus has originated from the pigs. Winter always brings along the chills and the flu, make sure you're safe this season.

The H1N1 study focusing exclusively on critically ill children found that children with chronic illness, especially respiratory illness, are more likely to develop H1N1 influenza that requires critical care and that the virus is likely to change course as it attacks the lungs throughout the course of the illness.

"The good news is that all of our patients survived, even though some needed mechanical ventilators and heart medication," said senior author David G. Nichols, MD, professor of anesthesiology/critical care medicine and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Compared to seasonal influenza, H1N1 influenza appears to have increased infection rates among children and young adults and varies in severity.

Global Swine Flu Tolls New Figure 16,713: WHO
The World Health Organization said Friday, swine flu has claimed at least 16,713 lives around the world since it was first uncovered in Mexico and the United States last April.

To reach the conclusion, researchers reviewed cases of 13 critically ill children with H1N1 admitted to the Johns Hopkins Hospital Children's Center pediatric intensive care unit during the spring and summer of 2009.

They found that the vast majority (92 percent) of the children had an underlying chronic disease, usually a lung disease such as asthma, before contracting H1N1 infection.

Swine Flu Virus may Become Resistant to Tamiflu
Researchers at the Ohio State University, in a new study analyzing the behavior of seasonal H1N1 suggests that pandemic flu may become resistant to Tamiflu, the main drug used against it.

"Critical H1N1 disease in children has different and rapidly changing manifestations in the patients' lungs," explained Dr. Nichols. "Some children behaved as though they were having an asthma attack, while other children behaved as though they had severe pneumonia. Some children had both or switched from one to the other. These variable and changing manifestations of lung infection made life support with a mechanical ventilator challenging and required us to constantly reassess and readjust treatments."

The researchers also found that children with H1N1 lung disease are at increased risk for developing a second type of pneumonia.

Flying Rabbis Try to Protect Israel from Swine Flu
In a never seen before sight, a group of rabbis and Jewish mystics are circling Israel from the air and blowing religious horns to ward off swine flu from the country.

Patients who received treatment with antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu within 48 hours of admission did not have significantly different outcomes than those who received antiviral treatment more than 48 hours following admission.

Source-ANI
RAS