Clinical profile of swine flu in children at Puducherry.
OBJECTIVE
To study the clinical profile and outcome of children screened and diagnosed for Swine flu at a tertiary care hospital.


METHODS
All Children with suspicion of swine flu infection attending our hospital during the epidemic from August 2009 through January 2010 were screened and categorized into A, B and C as per guidelines of National Health and family welfare. Patients in Category A were advised home quarantine, Category B tested and treated with ostelamivir and Category C were hospitalized.


RESULTS
Among 424 cases screened for Swine flu, 79 were children in the age group 0-12 years of age (18.6%). The median age of presentation was 5 years. Children belonging to Category A were 43(54.4%), Category B were 31(39.2%) and Category C were 5(6.3%). Out of the cases that were screened, 19 children were confirmed positive for H1N1 infection(30.2%).Out of positive cases 8 were in category A (42%), eight were in category B (42%) and five were in category C (26.3%).


CONCLUSIONS
During the epidemic of swine flu at puducherry, majority of cases were category A with mild symptoms. Home quarantine and preventive measures during the epidemic were found to be far more important than testing and treating with Oseltamivir.
Sriram
P
P
Department of Pediatrics, JIPMER, Puducherry-6, Puducherry, India.
Kumar
Manish
M
Renitha
R
R
Mondal
Nivedita
N
Bhat
Vishnu B
VB
D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D008297:Male; D053139:Oseltamivir / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D053139:Oseltamivir