H1N1 flu causes unusual damage to lungs - studies
Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:28pm IST
WASHINGTON Reuters) - 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.
One middle-aged man who died was not diagnosed until after death, but unusual findings on his X-rays may be able to help doctors save other, similar patients.
Mollura’s team found irregularities called ground-glass opacities in the patient’s lungs using a CT scan. Although the patient was severely ill and had a fever, he tested negative for flu and doctors did not treat him for it.
The man died five days after he went into the hospital and the autopsy confirmed he had swine flu. The lung lesions seen on his CT scan matched lung damage done by the virus, Mollura and colleagues said.
In another study in the same journal, CT scans of patients with severe cases of swine flu showed many had pulmonary emboli, which block the arteries in the lungs, a team at the University of Michigan found.
Anticoagulant drugs can break up these clots and save lives.
http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-43194320091015
http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/study-h1n1-flu-transmission-varies-type-exposure/2009-09-16
Study: H1N1 flu transmission varies by type of exposure
September 16, 2009 — 12:02pm ET | By Anne Zieger
Folks, we don’t mean for FierceHealthcare to become The Swine Flu Journal, but the following seemed like it would be of interest to any health professional charged with helping to contain the spread of the bug, so here goes. According to a new study, swine flu infection rates vary meaningfully depending on which exposure pathway is involved, be it touching, coughing, inhaling air or other vector of transmission.
The study, which appears in the journal Risk Analysis, concluded that 52 percent of swine flu infections were acquired when a person came into close contact with an infected person spraying cough droplets another person’s into eyes, nostrils or lips.
It also concludes, meanwhile, that 31 percent of those diagnosed with H1N1 flu were most likely infected through hand contact with contaminated surfaces. Another 17 percent probably became infected by inhaling small particles carrying the virus when in the room with a previously-infected person.
Researchers say the study supports the notion that caregivers should wear gloves and a filtering face piece respirator when in a confined room with a swine flu victim.
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