H1N1 flu victim collapsed on way to hospital [Latest H1N1 updates downthread]

Within minutes, six-year-old Rubjit Thindal went from happily chatting in the back seat of the car to collapsing and dying in her father's arms.

"If we had known it was so serious, we would have called 911,'' Kuldip Thindal, Rubjit's distraught mother, said in Punjabi yesterday. "She just had a stomach ache -- she wasn't even crying.''

Rubjit was pronounced dead at hospital barely 24 hours after showing signs of a fever. Later, doctors told her parents she had the H1N1 influenza virus. She is believed to be the youngest person in Canada with the virus to have died.

UK:

Swine flu six times more likely to hospitalise diabetes patients

16 October, 2009
http://www.nursingtimes.net/whats-new-in-nursing/swine-flu/swine-flu-six-times-more-likely-to-hospitalise-diabetes-patients/5007459.article?referrer=RSS

The impact of swine flu among Britain’s 2.4 million diabetes patients may seriously disrupt NHS hospital and GP services, says the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD).

The association reports that diabetes sufferers who contract swine flu are six times more likely to be hospitalised and significantly more likely to die.

Says former ABCD chairman Professor Ken Shaw: “The impact of these risks, and the way they are managed in hospitals and primary care, needs expert assessment as part of contingency planning at a local level.”

He fears that a swine flu pandemic may result in a 10-fold increase in the number of urgent new insulin starts.

In its plan for local diabetes services, the ABCD is calling for emergency teams to be on stand-by, and a review of what routine services should be suspended, perhaps for as long as four months.

At the same time, essential services must be safeguarded as staff - who are likely to suffer from greater levels of sickness themselves - are redeployed to other areas.
Meanwhile, it says, patient self-management is the key to a successful outcome, with careful blood-glucose self-monitoring, and adjusting treatment as appropriate.

Trinidad and Tobago:

2 more suspected swine flu deaths

By Odette Loney Friday, October 16 2009
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,109260.html

There are new reports of two suspected swine flu deaths at the San Fernando General Hospital.

If health officials confirm these two cases the death toll from swine flu, medically referred to as Influenza A/H1N1, will rise to four.

Sources said one of the patients died on Wednesday night and the other yesterday morning.

Health Minister Jerry Narace yesterday said a statement will be issued once there is confirmation of any new deaths due to the virus.

On Wednesday, Narace disclosed two men died of swine flu at the hospital the day before.

Tests were being done to determine if a third patient had died from swine flu. The results are yet to be released. However, Newsday sources identified the patient as a woman from Princes Town and yesterday her family reported she died from pneumonia.

Marina Jattan said an autopsy on her mother Cynthia Jattan, 42, confirmed she died from pneumonia and not swine flu.

“There was nothing about swine flu on the death certificate. Doctors told me that tests came back negative,” Jattan told Newsday.

Jattan was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital on Monday with high fever, vomiting and diarrhoea and although doctors attempted to aid Jattan’s breathing by inserting a tube into her lungs her condition worsened and she died on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Chief Medical Officer Dr Anton Cumberbatch said the hospital had been sanitised and masks and gloves were given to staff. The Ambulance Bay was placed on a two-day quarantine which was lifted yesterday. Ambulances once more parked at the stations and attendants wore masks, gloves and coveralls for protection. Security guards and persons visiting the hospital also wore masks.

Responding to Narace’s disclosure that 260,000 doses of the swine flu vaccine would arrive in the country next month, secretary general of the Medical Professionals Association (MPATT) Balkaran Ramkissoon yesterday advised the “efficacy of the vaccine is limited” and may have side effects.

“The vaccine may only result in reduced symptoms in some persons. Accordingly, in spite of a vaccine being available and the public being immunized, severe illness may still be caused by the swine flu virus,” Ramkissoon said in a release.

Ramkissoon said there is a need for proper clinical management which includes intensive care and he warned public health institutions may fail to adequately address a swine flu outbreak.

However, staff at several health centres which Newsday contacted said they were prepared to treat cases of the virus and information campaigns are still underway to combat its spread.

UK:

Swine flu cases rocket in region

16 October 2009
By Danielle Beeton
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/Swine-flu-cases-rocket-in.5740322.jp

The number of antivirals issued in the fight against swine flu in our region has shot up by more than 1,500 in the past week.

The latest weekly report from NHS South Of Tyne and Wear shows there were 1,673 anitvirals given out in the area, which includes Sunderland, South Tyneside and Gateshead, between October 8 and 14.

This is up from 1,199 the previous week.

In County Durham, 1,622 antivirals were issued in the same period – up from 1,081 the previous week.

There were also seven people being treated in hospital for symptoms of swine flu in the south of Tyne and Wear area – up from two the previous week.

Two people were being treated in hospital with symptoms of the virus in County Durham, up from one the previous week.

Martin Wilson, director of NHS flu resilience in the North East said:
“We’ve seen a 30 per cent increase in swine flu cases across the region this week, with a large number of people calling the national pandemic flu service with flu-like symptoms.

“We’ve also seen a significant increase in the number of people in hospital across the region.”

Now health chiefs are gearing up to vaccinate health workers and priority groups to guard against the virus.

Today, expectant mums were urged to get the vaccination after it was confirmed a 17-year-old pregnant woman and her unborn child from the Borders died after contracting the virus.

The Welsh Assembly had already announced that a 21-year-old expectant mother was one of two women with swine flu who had died.

The UK death toll has now passed the 100 mark.

Mr Wilson added: “The swine flu vaccine has now passed the rigorous safety tests required for it to be licensed in the UK and a comprehensive vaccination programme of priority groups will begin in the region as soon as stocks arrive.

“We are encouraging all frontline health and social care staff and people in at-risk groups to get their free jab, not only to protect themselves and their families, but also to avoid passing it on to people who are more vulnerable.”

If you think you have swine flu, check your symptoms online at
www.direct.gov.uk/pandemicflu or call 0800 151 3100.

Study: H1N1 Flu Causes ‘Unusual’ Damage to Lungs

Friday, October 16, 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,567460,00.html?test=latestnews

The new pandemic H1N1 flu may cause blood clots and other unusual damage in the lungs and doctors need to be on the lookout, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

Two studies published in the American Journal of Roentgenology show the need to check X-rays and CT scans for unusual features, and also point out swine flu can be tricky to diagnose in some of the sickest patients.

H1N1 flu is causing a pandemic, and while it is not particularly deadly, it is sickening many younger adults and older children who usually escape the worst effects of seasonal flu.

“It is therefore essential that clinicians be able to recognize possible cases of pandemic H1N1 influenza in high-risk groups so that they order the appropriate diagnostic tests, begin specific antiviral therapy, and prepare to provide intensive supportive measures as needed,” Dr. Daniel Mollura of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Maryland and colleagues wrote.

CT:

In Middletown, Children Brave H1N1 Vaccine

By MONICA POLANCO
The Hartford Courant
October 16, 2009
http://www.courant.com/news/health/hc-fluclinic1016.artoct16,0,5525925.story

MIDDLETOWN - Four-year-old Andrew Thompson carried his stuffed kitty to Middletown’s first swine flu clinic Thursday, but he wasn’t scared.

Andrew remained calm while a health care professional sprayed the H1N1 vaccine mist into his nostrils, then he enjoyed his reward — a tangerine-flavored lollipop.

The free clinic — which also vaccinated children from Cromwell, Durham, Haddam and Middlefield — was only for children aged 2 to 4, one of the high-risk groups for H1N1. Because those children must get two doses, a second clinic will serve the same age range next Thursday.

“This is definitely the first of many to come,” said Salvatore Nesci, the city’s chief public health sanitarian.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell attended a similar clinic for toddlers Thursday in Old Saybrook.

“We expect to see many more clinics around the state as shipments continue to come in to doctors and other health care providers,” she said in a news release.

More than 83,000 doses of both the shots and the intranasal vaccines have come into Connecticut, according to the state Department of Public Health, and several thousand more doses are expected every week.

As with other clinics during these first few weeks of dispensing the vaccines, the Middletown Health Department, the lead agency in a state-designated, five-member “mass dispensing area,” will first serve high-risk groups — including pregnant women and health care workers — then the general public, Nesci said. Vaccine recipients aged 10 and older need only one dose.

Dr. Joseph Havlicek, the health department’s director, said the nasal mist contains no preservatives — a concern among parents of autistic children. Havlicek said that although the preservatives in vaccines have not been proven to cause autism, some parents fear that they do.

The Middletown department had 700 doses Thursday and served 52 children. Clinics for the general public have not been scheduled yet.

Andrew’s mother, Patricia Thompson, said she brought her son to the clinic because his pediatrician didn’t have the vaccine. A resident of Haddam’s Higganum section, Thompson has another son, 6-year-old Connor, who was not eligible for Thursday’s clinic.

Thompson told her younger son what to expect before they arrived in city hall, where the vaccines were administered. Andrew said he had no worries as he waited outside the common council’s chambers. Afterward, he strode out, unfazed, ready to tackle the rest of his day.

Jessica Iozzo, of Cromwell, brought her 2-year-old daughter, Aiddah, to the clinic. Aiddah also was unflappable.

“We use the nasal spray at home all the time, so she’s used to it,” Iozzo said.

Iozzo, a pregnant labor-and-delivery nurse, is also in the high risk group and has already received a seasonal flu shot.

“I’m going to be working with a high-risk population and she’s high risk,” Iozzo said of her daughter. “I want her to be protected.”

Cherokee Nation issues first H1N1 vaccines to students

Fri, Oct 16, 2009
8:20:45 AM CDT
By Jami Custer
Staff Writer
http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/20783/Article.aspx

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The first doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine designated for the Cherokee Nation were given on Oct. 15 to residential students at the tribe’s Jack Brown Center, Talking Leaves Job Corps and Sequoyah Schools.

CN Medical Director Dr. Gloria Grim said the CN received a small number of the H1N1 intranasal vaccines from the Cherokee County Health Department. She said the three facilities were identified as an initial site based on the age of the students and because they house students. Those factors place the Jack Brown Center, TJLC and Sequoyah in a high-risk category based on Centers for Disease Control guidelines.

Students were required to sign waivers and answer questions regarding their health prior to receiving the vaccine.

“All participants at TLJC have a consent on file that allows them to be treated for acute and chronic illnesses and receive routine vaccinations,” Grim said. “However, all students will receive information on the vaccination and may decline if they choose.”

Grim said any student over 20 years of age who did not want the nasal vaccine will be the first to receive the H1N1 shot when it arrives, which was expected to be around Oct. 22.

“We currently have enough of the H1N1 intranasal vaccine to administer to all participants under the age of 20 who have no contraindications to taking the H1N1 intranasal vaccine,” Grim said.

The intranasal vaccine contains a weakened live virus that is squirted up the nose in a mist form. The shot form of the vaccine contains a dead virus that is injected into the arm.

“Being able to provide that vaccine to dorm students who are highly at risk because of residential living is essential to prevent them from getting the flu and spreading it…we’re following CDC guidelines,” Ginger Glory, TLJC Quality Improvement director, said.

Choctaw Nation citizen and TLJC student Jared Chandler is taking business classes at the facility. He said he decided to get the H1N1 vaccine because a 15-year-old girl near his hometown died from the H1N1 flu virus. “I want to be on the safe side,” he said.

Grim said the CN would continue to issue the vaccine as it becomes available.

“If the next shipment contains both nasal and inject able, we will finish vaccinating the students at the residential facilities and the teachers at those facilities,” she said. “Then we will start with pregnant women, high-risk children and health care providers.”

Grim said it is imperative that all eligible people take the H1N1 vaccine as it becomes available and to remember that the seasonal vaccine does not protect against H1N1.

According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, about 200 people in the state had been hospitalized and eight people had died from the H1N1 virus as of Oct. 15.

Reach Staff Writer Jami Custer at (918) 453-5560 or jami-custer@cherokee.org

FL:

Second swine flu death hits St. Johns

By CHAD SMITH chad.smith@staugustine.com
Posted: Friday, October 16, 2009 ; Updated: 12:23 AM on Friday, October 16, 2009
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/101609/news_2089187.shtml

A second St. Johns County resident has died from the swine flu, the county Health Department reported Thursday.

The victim, an unidentified 45-year-old man, died Tuesday and had an underlying health condition, the department reported.

The cause of death was confirmed through laboratory testing as H1N1, commonly known as the swine flu, the department said in a news release.

No other information about the victim was available.

The hospital this week adopted a new policy limiting patient visitors to immediate family members who are at least 15 years old in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus.

Gina McLean, a hospital spokeswoman, said Thursday that the change has been “very smooth.”

“The community is obviously just as concerned as we are about the preventing the spread of the flu,” McLean said, adding that there has not been any resistance.

The Health Department received about 100 vaccines for the flu earlier this month and has been giving them to those in the health care and emergency response fields, who are more vulnerable to the virus, department spokeswoman Noreen Nickola-Williams said.

The county will be receiving more vaccines to administer, but she did not know when.

The first swine flu victim in the county, a 54-year-old man, died in late September and did not have an underlying health condition, according to local officials.

CT:

Health Department cancels flu clinics

Written by John Kovach
Friday, 16 October 2009 09:23
http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/stratfordstar/news/localnews/39375-health-department-cancels-flu-clinics.html

The Stratford Health Department is postponing upcoming seasonal flu clinics, including Friday’s clinic scheduled at the Baldwin Center.

Future seasonal clinics will be scheduled contingent upon receiving additional seasonal vaccine.

“Increased awareness through efficient media coverage contributed to our dispensing seasonal vaccine at clinics well ahead of schedule,” Health Director Lisa Pippa said in a press release. “We will exhaust every possible avenue to purchase additional vaccine.”

Health officials urged residents to check with primary care physicians to see if they have seasonal vaccine. The Stratford Health Department is referring callers to alternative sites that may still have vaccine.

A list of sites that list seasonal flu shot availability can be found at www.townofstratford.com/health.

Stratford ordered well in advance, held clinics early in accordance with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control to get ahead of the H1N1 vaccine rush, according to a press release.

Other health departments are in similar situations, canceling scheduled seasonal flu clinics.

Clinics for the H1N1 vaccine will be held by appointment only for priority groups starting next week.

Priority groups include: 2- to 4-year-olds; household contacts and care givers of infants younger than 6 months old; and first responders who have direct patient care and transport.

While pregnant women are also in the top priority group, they cannot receive the intranasal spray vaccine, the first formulation of the H1N1 vaccine to be shipped out. Details will be forthcoming.

Information and appointments can be obtained by calling the Stratford Health Department at 203-385-4090

Health Buzz: The Mysteries Stumping Swine Flu Experts and Other Health News
By Megan Johnson
Posted October 15, 2009

What Has Experts Stumped on Swine Flu?

Close to 400,000 cases of H1N1 infection have been confirmed by the World Health Organization, but flu experts still do not know exactly how the virus is spread, Reuters reports.

Mucus droplets contain flu virus that can live on surfaces and can be spread through close contact.

But there is a chance H1N1 could also get passed through feces, flu expert Tim Uyeki of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells Reuters.

There are other big unanswered questions about H1N1, Reuters reports, including the number of people infected and how often the virus turns deadly.

Tests used to confirm infection are not very reliable, Reuters says, and are in short supply for the numbers of people infected.

As a result, the WHO and CDC can only estimate that the number of H1N1 cases far exceeds those confirmed. The agencies guess the true number of infections is in the millions, according to Reuters.

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/infectious-diseases/2009/10/15/health-buzz-the-mysteries-stumping-swine-flu-experts-and-other-health-news.html

FACTBOX-New flu still raises questions among experts
Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:54am EDT
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - How many people have been infected with the new swine flu? How many will it kill? How do you catch it?

Health authorities around the world are trying to persuade people to line up to be vaccinated against the pandemic H1N1 virus even as they struggle to answer these basic questions.

H1N1 swine flu was declared a pandemic in June and the World Health Organization says more than 375,000 people globally have been infected and 4,500 have died.

But these are just laboratory-confirmed cases and the WHO says they are the tip of the iceberg. Only a small fraction of people who get swine flu ever have it confirmed by a doctor.

Here is a rundown of what experts do and do not know about pandemic H1N1 influenza.

WHAT THEY KNOW

* The virus spread around the world in the space of six weeks and is now virtually everywhere.

* It strongly resembles seasonal influenza in that it causes fever, sore throat, a dry cough, muscle aches and tiredness.

* Unlike seasonal influenza, worst among the elderly, this new influenza batters younger people.

* Many people escape without symptoms. Dr. Tim Uyeki, a flu expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says studies show 12 percent of people do not have fever. “A lot of people might think they don’t have influenza because they don’t have classic influenza-like illness,” Uyeki told a meeting of the Pan American Health Organization on Wednesday.

* H1N1 may cause symptoms not normally seen in seasonal flu. “We are seeing diarrhea and vomiting in children of all ages as well as adults,” Uyeki said. It can also infect the heart, a condition called myocarditis, affect the brain in what is called encephalopathy and cause multiple organ failure.

* The incubation period — the time from infection to when symptoms begin — ranges from one to four days.

* People can spread virus for 24 hours after the fever stops.

* Adults over the age of 60 are less likely to be infected and to become seriously ill with H1N1, in part because they seem to have some immunity to it. The highest rates of hospitalization are among the youngest children — aged up to 4 — but the highest rates of death are in adults aged 50 to 64.

* The new vaccine should protect against H1N1 well and antiviral drugs can treat it if given soon enough.

WHAT THEY DON’T KNOW

* How many people have been infected. The World Health Organization and CDC stopped counting months ago. There are not enough diagnostic tests in the world to test everyone who gets sick, and not enough doctors, nurses or technicians to administer them. The tests that exist are not very good at detecting H1N1. All WHO or CDC will say is that “millions” have been infected.

* The fatality rate for H1N1. Uyeki says death rate estimates are all under 1 percent with a median range of 0.4 percent. Without knowing how many people in total have been infected, researchers cannot say what proportion have died. Seasonal influenza kills less than 0.1 percent of patients but this adds up to 250,000 to 500,000 people globally each year.

* How people catch it. “We don’t actually have good data on understanding how this virus is transmitted,” Uyeki said. The virus lives in little droplets of mucus and tests show it can be picked up on surfaces such as computer keyboards, passed in a sneeze or during close conversation, and perhaps transmitted in smaller particles that can float up to six feet (2 metres).

Uyeki said it is possible H1N1 may be passed in feces, as the virus affects the gastrointestinal tract, but no one knows.

* How long patients are contagious. “I think we don’t really understand this well,” said Uyeki. People with higher fevers and children appear to “shed” more virus.

* What makes a flu virus deadly. Genetic analysis has shown nothing special about the viruses infecting people who died, said Dr. Michael Shaw, assistant director of laboratory science at CDC’s influenza division. “There is nothing that really stands out about these viruses that have been isolated from the severe or fatal cases,” Shaw told the PAHO meeting.

* What other viruses are out there. Shaw said farmers rarely test swine herds, a known source of new flu viruses.

“When you go and pull the data that’s available from GenBank you can find maybe 300 sequences from North American swine viruses,” Shaw said. “There is essentially nothing from Africa or Central or South America. There obviously are some gaps that need to be plugged so that something (else) like this doesn’t surprise us.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSN1529221620091015?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=11604

October 16, 2009

Medical condition, swine flu combine to claim 40-year-old woman

JOURNAL AND COURIER

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Health officials say a 40-year-old woman has died of complications from swine flu in central Indiana’s Tippecanoe County.

County health officer Dr. Michael Bohlin says the woman had a previous medical condition that caused severe complications that led to respiratory failure. The woman died Thursday at a Lafayette hospital.

The State Department of Health has confirmed five other deaths in Indiana from swine flu since July.

Widespread flu illness prompted the Clinton Prairie School Corp. in neighboring Clinton County to cancel Friday’s classes and all weekend sports events.

Athletic director Bobby Smith says more than a quarter of the junior-senior high school’s some 430 students were absent Thursday.

http://www.pal-item.com/article/20091016/UPDATES/91016014/1008/rss

H1N1 flu worrying due to its unpredictability - WHO
GENEVA (Reuters) - H1N1 pandemic influenza remains a cause for concern because of its unpredictable nature, even though it has killed fewer than 5,000 people so far this year, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.

A statement from the United Nations health agency said that more than 4,735 deaths attributable to H1N1, known as swine flu, had been reported, and that influenza activity in the northern hemisphere was much higher than usual.

A boy is given a H1N1 swine flu vaccine in a nasal spray at Dodge Park Elementary School in Landover, Maryland, October 9, 2009. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
But WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said it was too soon to draw any conclusions from the death toll as experts needed to monitor a full year of the disease, which the WHO declared a pandemic in June after the strain was first detected in April.

“Although the death rate might not be enormous at the moment we do have to continue to be prepared for developments as we go through the winter in the northern hemisphere,” Hartl said.

In particular, health experts need to observe the behaviour of the virus during the traditional January-February peak of the influenza season in the northern hemisphere, he told a briefing.

Most people who catch the H1N1 virus suffer mild symptoms.

But in contrast to seasonal flu strains which can be serious for elderly people, H1N1 can turn dangerous for some people with existing health conditions or otherwise healthy young adults.

“There is a small subset of cases that do and can progress quite rapidly to severe disease and this is sometimes in the space of less than 24 hours and it then becomes a big, big challenge to save the people,” Hartl said.

“This disease continues to cause concern because it doesn’t act exactly like seasonal influenza and because it doesn’t affect the same groups who are affected by seasonal influenza.”

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/10/16/worldupdates/2009-10-16T181933Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-432181-2&sec=Worldupdates

Homeless among first in Pierce Co. to receive swine flu vaccine

05:19 PM PDT on Thursday, October 15, 2009

By DREW MIKKELSEN / KING 5 News

TACOMA, Wash. - Pierce County’s Health Department has decided children should receive most of the first batch of swine flu vaccine, but Tacoma’s homeless received some of the initial doses.

Individual counties decide what members of the population considered “high risk” receive the first doses of the vaccine.

In King County, medical care providers are being given the county’s first 21,000 vaccines.

Thurston County’s Health Department is making their 2,400 doses available to health care providers, parents of newborns and children.

Pierce County received 16,000 vaccines. 200 were made available to the “Homeless Connect” event, an annual program at the Tacoma Dome.

Attendees are given services like dental exams and eyeglasses for free. About 100 of the vaccines were given to people considered in “high risk” populations, like parents of infants and young adults.

A health department spokesman said because of their living situations, and the lack of routine medical care, serving that population is what public health agencies do.

“To make sure people who don’t have normal avenues have some way of receiving services,” said John Britt.

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_101409WAB-pierce-county-swine-flu-vaccine-TP.21de6406f.html

The inability to deal with an epidemic, or any “surge need” of sophisticated medical care has been known for several years now.

And the fundamental problem remains: there just is not, nor can there be enough of the sophisticated technology and trained personnel available. Which leaves only a few alternatives.

The first of these are to use common, publicly available OTC means to stop the problem from developing in the first place, and second, to innovate much less complex and inexpensive technologies that can be mass produced and used with far less expertise.

The first option is of course preferred, at the first sign of infection to issue a cocktail of both viral inhibition chemicals, antivirals, and drugs to stave off secondary effects, like ARDS, which must be continued for the duration of the infection. The mission is not to cure the disease, but to mitigate it into a less lethal form. This has to be done by the public with the advice of the medical community once they can determine the optimal cocktail formula.

It will not stop all acute problem, but hopefully will reduce the numbers of those that need sophisticated medical equipment and supervision.

The second option, of creating large numbers of much less sophisticated hardware, that can be monitored by an intelligent layman, is a desperation play, but might be the only alternative left to abandonment and death.

Such systems amount to a “blood bypass”, in which blood is removed from the patient, oxygenated and purged of CO2, and returned safely to their body. Typically, however, this would require a high volume of blood to be effective, but there might be another way.

Perfluorocarbon-based “oxygen therapeutics” are far more efficient than blood hemoglobin in carrying oxygen. In past, these blood substitutes were considered for high volume use as blood replacements, and are undergoing Phase III trials right now. One or more has already been approved for use in other countries.

However, if only small amounts are used, the volume of blood that would need to be oxygenated would be significantly reduced. Thus the external blood oxygen machine could be simpler.

While each device would likely still be expensive, they might be able to be mass produced, unlike the $120,000 system mentioned in the report. Instead of a trained expert monitoring the system, an ordinary computer with software would do most of the work, allowing the expert to respond only when there was a problem, so that many more systems could be in operation at the same time, perhaps watched by family members.

Certainly not optimal, but again, a desperate means to save the lives of people that would otherwise be forfeit.

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