title: Update: pneumonia-influenza and severe acute respiratory illnesses, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, July 2000-June 2012.
abstract: Pneumonias are among the leading causes of hospitalizations of U.S. service members.  During July 2000-June 2012, there were 13,291 incident hospitalizations for pneumonia and influenza. The most cases during any "respiratory illness year" (July-June) were in 2002-2003 (n=1,359); the fewest cases were in 2010-2011 (n=937). During 28 of the 31 months from December 2009 through June 2012, there were fewer pneumonia and influenza-related hospitalizations than expected (relative to the means for the respective months overall). The relatively few hospitalizations for pneumonia-influenza in recent years reflect, at least in part, the effectiveness of influenza vaccines against the predominant circulating strains of influenza viruses.  During the period, on average, there were approximately three hospitalizations for "severe acute respiratory illnesses" (SARI) (e.g., acute respiratory failure or distress) per month; however, numbers of SARI-related hospitalizations generally increased during the period. The cause(s) of this increase are not clear.
mesh_terms: D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology