BACKGROUND During the 2009/A/H1N1 pandemic, the main burden of the patient management fell on primary care physicians (PCPs), and they were the principal implementers of pandemic policies. Broad involvement of PCPs in the pandemic response offered an excellent opportunity to investigate the challenges that they encountered. OBJECTIVE To examine challenges faced by PCPs as they implemented pan...

BACKGROUND One pathway through which pandemic influenza strains might emerge is reassortment from coinfection of different influenza A viruses. Seasonal influenza vaccines are designed to target the circulating strains, which intuitively decreases the prevalence of coinfection and the chance of pandemic emergence due to reassortment. However, individual-based analyses on 2009 pandemic influenza...

BACKGROUND The chance of an influenza pandemic is real and clinicians should keep themselves informed about the rationale and science behind preventive and therapeutic principles relating to an (impending) influenza pandemic. DISCUSSION Vaccination is considered the best prevention in case of a pandemic threat and first choice to contain the impact of a pandemic. Pending the availability of a...

The 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic serves as a stark reminder of the inherently unpredictable nature of influenza virus. Although most planning centered on the potential emergence of a wholly new influenza A subtype of avian origin causing the next pandemic, a very different scenario occurred: a mammalian-adapted reassortant drift variant of a familiar subtype caused the first pandemic of the...

There is increasing evidence that 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza viruses have evolved after pandemic onset giving rise to severe epidemics in subsequent waves. However, it still remains unclear which viral determinants might have contributed to disease severity after pandemic initiation. Here, we show that distinct mutations in the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus genome have occurred with increased freq...

The genetic relatedness of 81 isolates of Vibrio parahaemolyticus was assessed by multilocus sequence typing. The strain with serotype O3:K6 emerged as a pandemic pathogen in 1996, with subsequent expansion to include strains having serotypes O1:KUT, O4:K68, and O1:K25. Sequence data from gyrB, recA, dnaE, and gnd revealed that 16 distinct serogroups isolated prior to the pandemic were highly v...

We are currently in the midst of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, and a second wave of flu in the fall and winter could lead to more hospitalizations for pneumonia. Recent pathologic and historic data from the 1918 influenza pandemic confirms that many, if not most, of the deaths in that pandemic were a result of secondary bacterial pneumonias. This means that a second wave of 2009 H1N1 pandemic influen...

INTRODUCTION The Spanish influenza surveillance system (SISS) maintained its activity during the summer of 2009 to monitor the influenza pandemic. OBJECTIVES To describe pandemic influenza activity from May to September 2009 and to estimate the effectiveness of the 2008-9 seasonal influenza vaccine against laboratory-confirmed pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza. METHODS Data from the SISS were ...

Background No randomised controlled trial has been successfully conducted during an influenza pandemic. The ASAP trial (Adjuvant Steroids in Adults with Pandemic Influenza) aims to use the novel strategy of set-up in advance of an influenza pandemic, and ‘hibernation’ in readiness for activation in a pandemic. Upon activation, the trial needs to recruit the first participant within 4 weeks, and...

conclusions the prevalence of pandemic influenza viruses in recent years has caused financial losses as well as mortalities around the world. this shows the importance of the rapid diagnosis of common serotypes in our society. using real-time rt-pcr is recommended for the early diagnosis and the rapid identification of the individuals infected with pandemic influenza virus. background timely di...