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Researchers report clinical features from a case series of 18 adult patients (age range, 23–62; mean, 41) who were admitted to a single intensive care unit in California with respiratory distress and a primary diagnosis of pandemic H1N1 influenza in 2009.
Sixteen patients had one or more comorbid conditions, including obesity in 10 patients. All patients had cough and infiltrates identified on chest x-ray; most patients presented with fever, shortness of breath, myalgias, gastrointestinal symptoms, and headache. At triage, 13 patients were hypoxic (oxygen saturation ≤93%) and 13 were tachycardic. Only 4 of 17 patients (24%) tested positive for H1N1 by the rapid influenza detection test, whereas 15 of 16 patients (94%) tested positive by real…