The World Health Organization is raising the alarm that the swine flu causes significantly more pneumonia in people who become ill.

At meetings in Washington which have taken place this week, health officials expressed concern about the increased incidence of pneumonia linked to the virus.

From a WHO press release about findings presented at the meeting:

... Concern is now focused on the clinical course and management of small subsets of patients who rapidly develop very severe progressive pneumonia. In these patients, severe pneumonia is often associated with failure of other organs, or marked worsening of underlying asthma or chronic obstructive airway disease.

Treatment of these patients is difficult and demanding, strongly suggesting that emergency rooms and intensive care units will experience the heaviest burden of patient care during the pandemic.

Primary viral pneumonia is the most common finding in severe cases and a frequent cause of death. Secondary bacterial infections have been found in approximately 30% of fatal cases. Respiratory failure and refractory shock have been the most common causes of death.

 

A Washington Post story reports this:

Unlike the seasonal flu, (Nikki) Shindo (a medical officer in the WHO's Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response Department) said, the virus appears more likely to travel deep into the lungs, where it can cause viral pneumonia. Such a condition can cause severe lung damage and a life-threatening condition known as acute respiratory distress syndrome.

"Remarkably different is this small subset of patients that presents very severe viral pneumonia," Shindo said.

Shindo noted that some hospitals in Australia and New Zealand were severely strained by seriously ill swine flu patients during their recently ended winter.

"This disease overwhelmed emergency rooms and especially intensive care units because of the very severe patients that required special care," Shindo said, urging hospitals to prepare for the possibility of a significant number of patients requiring intensive care.