News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers who analyzed H1N1 influenza hospitalization and death data from the early months of the pandemic say the fall-winter phase of the contagion may bring fewer deaths than an average flu season, barring any changes that would make the virus more virulent, but the deaths are likely to be in younger age-groups.

(CIDRAP News) – A study of California's most severely ill patients during the first 16 weeks of the novel H1N1 pandemic is in line with other recent studies that have shown two unique features of the virus—that it hits young people hard and that obesity appears to be a risk factor.

(CIDRAP News) – The susceptibility of some young, healthy people to severe illness with pandemic H1N1 influenza marks a striking difference from the pattern of disease seen in seasonal flu epidemics, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – A collection of new studies is demonstrating once again the ability of the pandemic H1N1 virus to make some people desperately sick and is raising questions about the potential strain on critical-care resources this fall and winter.

(CIDRAP News) – Two reports published by the New England Journal of Medicine today filled in more details about severe cases of H1N1 influenza, generally confirming previous findings that most of them occur in non-elderly people who have chronic health conditions but that previously healthy people are also affected.

(CIDRAP News) – Novel H1N1 influenza outbreaks are starting to wane in the southern hemisphere, and while most cases are still mild, clinicians are reporting some severe cases of viral pneumonia in young, previously healthy people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.