who are most vulerable to swine flu?

The NEJM published 2 papers last week on hospitalised patients with H1N1 flu. The findings help remind us who are most vulnerable to swine ful.

One group of researchers found that between June and August 2009, 722 patients with H1N1 virus infection were admitted to an ICU during the winter in Australia or New Zealand.

Of the 722 patients, 92.7% were under 65, 9.1% were pregnant women, 28.6% of the adult patients had a body-mass index (BMI) >35, 32.7 % with asthma and chronic pulmonary disease. The highest age-specific incidence of ICU admission was among infants under the age of 1 whereas the highest number of ICU admissions was among patients 25 to 49 years of age.

Source : "Critical Care Services and 2009 H1N1 Influenza in Australia and New Zealand". Published at www.nejm.org October 8, 2009 (10.1056/NEJMoa0908481)

Another group of researchers studied 272 patients who were hospitalized with 2009 H1N1 influenza in the US from April 2009 to mid-June 2009.

Of the 272 patients studied, 7% died, the median age of patients who died was 26. 45% of the patients were children under 18, and 5% were 65 or older, 73% of the patients had at least one underlying medical condition, asthma was the most common condition in both children and adults.

Source: "Hospitalized Patients with 2009 H1N1 Influenza in the United States, April–June 2009", Published at www.nejm.org October 8, 2009 (10.1056/NEJMoa0906695),

2 more publishers offer free H1N1 flu resources

NEJM H1N1 Influenza Centre
contains news updates, policy information, articles on past influenza epidemics, and an interactive map of H1N1 influenza cases worldwide . Click on HealthMap for more info.

BMJ has created a pandemic flu website providing doctors with up to the minute swine flu information on prevention, symptoms, testing and treatment.

BMJ Learning also published a new swine flu module. This module is free to everybody who has registered with BMJ Learning. If you have not yet registered you can do so by completing the registration form. It is free, other swine flu modules are also available.

More free H1N1 resources - Ebsco Publishing

Due to the global outbreak of Pandemic H1N1 Influenza, EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) has made the pertinent influenza information available for free to health care providers worldwide. This site includes more than 50 evidence-based topics.

The publisher claims that the information provided “For Clinicians” and “For Nurses” consolidates the best-available evidence from hundreds of medical and nursing journals and systematic evidence review databases.

Each publication is reviewed cover-to-cover, and each article is evaluated for clinical relevance and scientific validity. The new evidence is then integrated with existing content, and overall conclusions are changed as appropriate representing a synthesis of the best available evidence and ensuring that health care providers stay current with recommendations for monitoring, diagnosing, and treating patients with flu-like illnesses.

Springer offers free access to swine flu research

Springer Science+Business Media is offering all journal articles that deal with the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, free of charge on the Springerlink website.

At the springerlink website, use the search term "H1N1" to find the free articles - a total of 318 will be available to print out or download until Dec. 31, 2009.

The company says that by making the articles available it hopes "to push forward scientific research on the causes, cures, and other facets of this virus."

In June 2009, the WHO raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 indicating that the global spread of the H1N1 virus is underway. More than 70 countries are now reporting cases of human infection with H1N1 flu.

No registration nor password needed.