I’ve reposted this study in response to the previous posting about the dangers of H1N1 and the regular flu vaccines. I hope the statistics  will give us insite on the chances of catching one and ending up in the hopistal’s ICU.

Critical Care Services and 2009 H1N1 Influenza in Australia and New Zealand conducted by The ANZIC Influenza Investigators and published by the New England journal of Medicine on October 8, 2009.

As of September 6, 2009, the World Health Organization had reported over 277,607 laboratory-confirmed cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza, world-wide with at least 3205 deaths, this study focused on patients that needed critical care on the intensive care units (ICUs) in Australia and New Zealand from June 1 through August 31, 2009.

The study identified 722 patients with confirmed infection with the 2009 H1N1 virus (28.7 cases per million inhabitants) were admitted to an ICU in Australia or New Zealand. 

The study identified infants (0 to 1 year of age) and adults 25 to 64 years of age to be at particular risk. Pregnant women, adults with a BMI greater than 35, and indigenous Australian and New Zealand populations also appeared to have an increased risk. In-hospital mortality, estimated on the basis of data available at the time of this report, exceeded 16%. Patients infected with the 2009 H1N1 virus were in the ICU for a total of 8815 bed-days (350 per million inhabitants). The median duration of treatment in the ICU was 7.0 days (interquartile range, 2.7 to 13.4)

The age-specific incidence rates were highest among infants and adults 25 to 64 years of age. Although the ICU admission varied across the age groups and was low for patients 65 years of age or older, the risk of death increased with increasing age.

A total of 66 of the 722 patients (9.1%) admitted to the ICU with 2009 H1N1 influenza were pregnant women. Of the 722 patients, 669 (92.7%) were under 65 years of age and of the 601 adults for whom data were available, 172 (28.6%) had a body-mass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) greater than 35.

Data on existing pulmonary disease were missing for 15 of the 722 patients with 2009 H1N1 influenza in our study; of the remaining 707 patients, 231 (32.7%) had asthma or another chronic pulmonary disease.

Data on the use of mechanical ventilation in the ICU were available for 706 patients; of these, 456 (64.6%) underwent mechanical ventilation for a median of 8 days (interquartile range, 4 to 16).

As of September 7, 2009, a total of 103 of the 722 patients (14.3% ) had died, and 114 (15.8%) remained in the hospital.

The proportion of patients who died in the hospital in our study is no higher than that previously reported among patients with seasonal influenza A who were admitted to an ICU. Patients admitted to an ICU with seasonal influenza A predominantly are elderly and have coexisting conditions. Among patients admitted to ICU, older age, the presence of coexisting conditions, and a requirement for invasive ventilation were independently associated with increased risk of death, but because there were greater numbers of younger patients in our cohort, the majority of deaths occurred in younger patients

The next study was conducted in the U.S. by the 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Hospitalizations Investigation Team and published also by the New England journal of Medicine on the same date, October 8, 2009.

Hospitalized Patients with 2009 H1N1 Influenza in the United States, April–June 2009

Background: During the spring of 2009, a pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus emerged and spread globally. We describe the clinical characteristics of the patients who were hospitalized with 2009 H1N1 influenza in the United States from April 2009 to mid-June 2009.

Methods: Using medical charts, we collected data on 272 patients who were hospitalized for at least 24 hours for influenza-like illness and who tested positive for the 2009 H1N1 virus with the use of a real-time reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction assay.

Results: Of the 272 patients we studied, 25% were admitted to an intensive care unit and 7% died. Forty-five percent of the patients were children under the age of 18 years, and 5% were 65 years of age or older. Seventy-three percent of the patients had at least one underlying medical condition; these conditions included asthma; diabetes; heart, lung, and neurologic diseases; and pregnancy. Of the 249 patients who underwent chest radiography on admission, 100 (40%) had findings consistent with pneumonia. Of the 268 patients for whom data were available regarding the use of antiviral drugs, such therapy was initiated in 200 patients (75%) at a median of 3 days after the onset of illness. Data suggest that the use of antiviral drugs was beneficial in hospitalized patients, especially when such therapy was initiated early.

Conclusions: During the evaluation period, 2009 H1N1 influenza caused severe illness requiring hospitalization, including pneumonia and death. Nearly three quarters of the patients had one or more underlying medical conditions. Few severe illnesses were reported among persons 65 years of age or older. Patients seemed to benefit from antiviral therapy. 

All credits on these publications are given to the New England Journal of Medicine, the ANZIC Inflienza Investigators, the U.S. 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Hospitalizations Investigation Team and all their affiliates. Reposted for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended. Read complete text and references of these studies in their website:  www.nejm.org

Photo source: publicdomainclip-art.blogspot.com

Other H1N1  Related Topics:

Influenza A (H1N1) Facts

How Can I Protect Myself From H1N1?

How do I know if I have influenza A(H1N1)?

What should I do if I think I have the illness?

What about using a mask? What does WHO recommend?

Should I go to work if I have the flu but am feeling OK?

Can I travel?

What about using a mask? What does WHO recommend?

Behind the artistic presentation of a Filipino folklore, director Richard Somes and producer Ronald Arguelles gave us a story of a typical Ilonggo, (and a Filipino) family. A family of loyalty, of love, and of perseverance in the midst of hardship and poverty. Watch these series of 11 clips here in Iloilo Hangout. A 2 thumbs up for everyone that is involved in the making of this film.

US President , Barrack Obama delared H1N1 (Swine Flu) a national emergency last Friday, October 23, and was made public last October 24, 2009.

 The Associated Press’ Headline (by Philip Elliott) : Obama declares swine flu a national emergency.

(US) Administration officials said the declaration was a pre-emptive move and was not in response to any single development.

The declaration, signed Friday night and announced Saturday, comes with the disease more prevalent than ever in the US and production delays undercutting the government’s initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million doses of the vaccine could be available by mid-October

Health authorities say more than 1,000 people in the United States, including almost 100 children, have died from the flu, known as H1N1, and 46 states have widespread flu activity. So far only 11 million doses have gone out to heath departments, doctor’s offices and other providers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials.

Since the vaccine is available or will be available in the market soon, do we need to be vaccinated?This is the big question me and my wife is trying to answer since our 8-year old kid belongs to the “high risk” category.

And while looking for some answers I found this heart breaking video of a  young woman with a dream of becoming a football cheerleader who’s life was changed forever by a regualar Flu shot which are considered safe after years of testing. We know that chances of getting this kind of side effect from Swine Flu or regular flu shot is very rare, but is it worth the risk?

Other topics about H1N1:

Influenza A (H1N1) Facts

How Can I Protect Myself From H1N1?

How do I know if I have influenza A(H1N1)?

What should I do if I think I have the illness?

What about using a mask? What does WHO recommend?

Should I go to work if I have the flu but am feeling OK?

Can I travel?

What about using a mask? What does WHO recommend?

photo source: myfoxdc.com

A very nice story. Taken from Nereo C. Lujan’s The Public Realm, The Daily Guardian (16 October 2009).

Pay It Forward

Journalist Florence Hibionada had goose bumps last Sunday (a day before the Bukas Kotse Gang carted away her laptop) while helping other media personalities pack donated items for victims of Typhoon Ondoy. Spotting a grey PBA shirt from among the second-hand clothes received by Oplan: Balos Bulig, a relief mission launched by the Philippine Tri-Media Multi-Purpose Cooperative (PTMC), she immediately became anxious. She knew she saw that shirt before. Inspecting it, she saw the letters C and P written in faded black marker at the shirt’s label. The handwriting is very familiar, as it belongs to Nana, her long-time helper.

CP stands for Clarence Philip, the name of her youngest son. The shirt was one of those donated by CP to victims of Typhoon Frank last year, particularly to media workers whose houses were submerged in floodwaters. Obviously, the recipient of CP’s benevolence felt it was time to repay the kindness he or she received after experiencing last year’s disaster. But repayment here does not mean actually paying the benefactor back, for CP remains unknown to his beneficiary. In other words, payment can be made forward, not backward.

As an anonymous author beautifully puts it, “Don’t repay kindness. Pass it on.” Indeed, it may just be one shirt, but it sent a remarkable message that made everyone speechless after Florence announced her magnificent find to those present that afternoon at the grounds of radio station Z100. Revealing who the original owner of the shirt was, she recalls it was almost new when her son gave it away, and it still does appear new.

“I just couldn’t imagine how, of all people and of all these many donations, it would be me who would be packing the shirt,” she told me later. “Maybe, it was just symbolic that this relief drive is aptly titled Oplan: Balos-Bulig – as it is time for Ilonggos to pass on the kindness they received when Typhoon Frank devastated our city last year. And maybe, there is a providential message behind all these.”

Passing on kindness is an idea that was made popular by a 2000 movie based on Catherine Ryan Hyde’s novel Pay It Forward. It tells of a story of an 11-year-old boy named Trevor McKinney who started a charitable pyramid scheme, where a recipient of a good deed should do three good deeds for others in the hope of creating a network of benevolence. Trevor had one rule though – such good deeds should be things that the other person cannot accomplish on their own. And what started as a school project for Trevor in his Social Studies class became a social movement with the goal of making the world a better place.

In real life, Ryan Hyde and friends subsequently established the Pay It Forward Foundation in September 2000 to educate and inspire students to realize that they can change the world, and provide them with opportunities to do so. The Foundation provides grants to one-time-only service-oriented projects identified by youth as activities they would like to perform to benefit their school, neighborhood, or greater community. Such projects must contain a “pay it forward” focus – that is, they must be based on the concept of one person doing a favor for others, who in turn do favors for others, with the results growing exponentially.

We don’t know exactly for sure how many have read Ryan Hyde’s book or have watched the movie, and we don’t even know if the recipient of CP’s shirt who became a donor himself or herself have heard of “pay it forward.” But if it was instinct that brought the shirt back to the donation stream, it was an admirable one and one that should be made transmissible. For books and movies can be forgotten, but instinct forms part of behavior and of character. Trivial as it may seem, this reveals that the charitable pyramid scheme do exists and thrives.

In his essay Compensation, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “In the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them, or only seldom. But the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent, to somebody.”

Indeed, it is really impossible for us to literally pay back every kindness that we have received. We can’t wait for a time when our benefactors would find themselves in need of help so we can repay them. That would be ridiculous. And it would be doubly ridiculous to even pray for that time to come. So, all we must do is to find someone to whom we can pay forward to.

Setting it in rhyme, this is how Henry Burton immortalizes the idea:

Have you had a kindness shown? Pass it on!
‘Twas not given for thee alone, Pass it on!
Let it travel down the years, Let it wipe another’s tears,
‘Till in Heaven the deed appears – Pass it on!

~ Nereo C. Lujan
The Public Realm
The Daily Guardian
16 October 2009

Avian Archipelago from Ivan Sarenas on Vimeo.

A year-long project I made for the Philippines’ Department Of Tourism aimed at promoting birdwatching in the country. It was meant for dvd-streaming in SD. It is mostly hd footage from the 5dMark2 edited with archival dvd-compressed footage, and hdv clips from an hv30. All Appropriate Releases Secured