H1N1 SEVERITY BEING MONITORED REAL TIME

Posted on September 17, 2009 by Jeffrey Newman

The H1N1 virus has not grown in severity as some feared it would but experts are now vigilant and monitoring symptoms real time over the concern that the virus might mutate and become more deadly than expected. The fact is that no reliable physician or public health expert can say yet whether this will or will not occur. Presently the virus causes mostly mild symptoms and is deadly in some people in fewer than 1% of the cases.  One expert explained, “the pandemic is like two diseases, either you miss work or school for a few days or you are in the intensive care unit, there is no middle ground.” In the southern hemisphere between 15-33% of the cases of H1N1 went to the ICU in the past two months, a high percentage for the flu. In these cases, it attacks the alveoli of the lungs, sometimes causing acute respiratory distress symdrome (ARDS). Hospitals are examining whether there would be enough ICU beds if the virus does worsen. There is no cure, just prevention from vaccine, which is not 100% effective. The longer the H1N1 virus survives, the more time it has to alter its structures. The next three weeks will be a critical time in evaluating the virus to see what it does.