No abstract

In a five week span during the 1918 influenza A pandemic, more than 2,000 patients were admitted to Cook County Hospital in Chicago with a diagnosis of either influenza or pneumonia; 642 patients, approximately 31% of those admitted, died with deaths occurring predominantly in patients twenty-five to thirty years of age.1 This review summarizes basic information on the biology, epidemiology, control, treatment and prevention of influenza overall, and then addresses the potential impact of pandemic influenza in an Intensive Care Unit setting. Issues that require consideration include workforce staffing and safety, resource management, alternate sites of care surge of patients, altered standards of care and crisis communication.