Clinical-Epidemiological Profile of Influenza A H1N1 Cases at a Tertiary Care Institute of India

Abstract

Introduction:Influenza virus is a common human pathogen that has caused serious respiratory illness and death over the past century. In April 2009, a new strain of Influenza virus A H1N1, commonly referred to as “swine flu”, began to spread in several countries around the world, and India confirmed its first case on 16 May 16 2009.Aim:To study the clinical and epidemiological profile of Influenza A H1N1 cases at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh.Materials and Methods:Clinical epidemiological characteristics of Influenza A H1N1 cases from May 2009 to April 2010 were retrospectively, descriptively analyzed using data from the Influenza A H1N1 screening center and isolation ward at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh. Data were Analyzed using MS Excel software.Results:At GMCH, till April 2010, a total of 4379 patients were screened for Influenza A H1N1, of which 365 patients were tested. The most common symptoms were fever (87.6%), cough (49.77%), sore throat (27%) and breathlessness (23.9%). The most common presentation (42.30%) of Influenza A H1N1 cases was fever and cold-like features, not cough. 29.58% (108) of the tested patients were found to be positive for the disease. Maximum cases were detected in the month of December, and the patients less than 40 years of age accounted for 81.4% (44 cases) of the cases. Influenza A H1N1 resulted in death of 54.9% (28) of the admitted cases, of which 46% (12) deaths occurred within 48 h of admission.Conclusion:On the basis of these findings, it can be safely hypothesized that prevalence of Influenza A H1N1 is high in the younger population, and fever, cough and sore throat are the most common symptoms with which the patients usually present.

Clinical profile of respiratory viral infections: A study from tertiary care centre of South India

“…Influenza infections tend to be clustered in November. This is consistent with other published data from India [9] and is related to the annual Northeast monsoon every year during this period in this part of India. This supports administering influenza vaccine annually in the months of September-October in Chennai and surrounding areas, especially as the updated Northern Hemisphere vaccine will be available at that time.…”

“…Our study is the largest on patients hospitalized with viral pneumonia involving both adults and children from India, while Table 1 Summary of various parameters among study population with sub group analysis. there are many published studies from India on hospitalised patients with 2009 H1N1 influenza, there are relatively few studies on non H1N1 influenza and other respiratory viruses [5,[7][8][9]. In our study most patients were above the age of 55, with males being more commonly affected than females (70% and 30% respectively).…”

Hospitalization Fatality Risk of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The pattern of age-specific HFR estimates based on discordant-source studies was similar to that of estimates based on cohort studies (Web Figure 6). The highest overall HFR estimate (52%) was found in a study conducted at a referral hospital in India (15). When estimates were stratified by age, the highest HFRs for children, adults, and the elderly were 16%, 68%, and 33% respectively, all in India (15)(16)(17).…”

Clinical profile and outcome of patients admitted with swine-origin Influenza A H1N1 virus infection at a tertiary care hospital in Western India

“…[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Myalgia and throat pain were seen in half of the patients, whereas dyspnea was present in one third which varied with few of the previous studies. 12,17,21 This suggest that respiratory symptoms are more common in swine flu along with myalgia. Most of the physical findings were also related to respiratory system.…”