Hospitalized Patients with Severe and Non-severe Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1).

Dear Editor,

The recent report on “hospitalized patients with severe and non-severe pandemic influenza A (H1N1)[1]” is very interesting. A study by Chudasama et al., noted that “delayed referral from general practitioner/physician, duration of antiviral treatment, presence of coexisting condition (i.e. pregnancy) were responsible for intensive care or mortality among severe influenza A (H1N1) illness.[1]” Of interest, Chudasama et al., has just reported a highly similar report in Indian J Crit Care Med and the same conclusion can be seen.[2] In fact, these findings can reflect that the outcome of the infection is mainly affected by the quality of medical care and patient underlying condition, not the virulence factor of the pathogen. Focusing on the Saurashtra region setting, it has been previously noted that the pregnancy was the greatest risk for severe disease.[3] As Chudasama et al., noted,[4] “early diagnosis and treatment may reduce the severity of the disease.”