In this study, a consortium of intensive care units (ICUs) in Australia and New Zealand reported their experience with admissions associated with infection with the 2009 H1N1 virus. The overall rate of ICU admission was estimated to be 28.7 per million persons, approximately 15 times that in previous years. During the period of peak transmission in communities, the ICU bed-occupancy rate ranged from 8.9 to 19.0%.

Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus has spread rapidly around the world during the past 6 months. In this report, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describe the clinical characteristics of the earliest patients who were hospitalized with the virus in the United States, during a 2-month period in the spring of 2009.

Using stored serum samples from blood donors and subjects in previous influenza vaccine trials, CDC investigators found that vaccination with the routine trivalent seasonal influenza vaccine induced little immunity against the current pandemic H1N1 virus and that 34% of subjects born before 1950 had some immunity to this pandemic virus.

In a clinical trial, 806 patients with renovascular disease were randomly assigned either to undergo percutaneous revascularization with medical therapy or to receive medical therapy alone. At a median follow-up of 34 months, the rate of decline in renal function (the primary end point) did not differ significantly between the two groups. Serious complications of revascularization occurred in 23 patients.