Articles: pandemics.
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Provision for the emergence of an influenza pandemic is an urgent issue. The discovery of a novel anti-influenza therapeutic approach would increase the effectiveness of traditional virus-based strategies. This study was undertaken to evaluate the therapeutic effects of anti-high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment on influenza A virus (H1N1)-induced pneumonia in mice. ⋯ Anti-HMGB1 mAb may provide a novel and effective pharmacological strategy for severe influenza virus infection in humans by reducing the inflammatory responses induced by HMGB1.
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In a pandemic, needs for ventilators might overwhelm the limited supply. Outcome predictors have been proposed to guide ventilator triage allocation decisions. However, pandemic triage predictors have not been validated. This quantitative simulation study evaluated outcomes resulting from allocation strategies varying in their performance for selecting short-stay survivors as favorable candidates for ventilators. ⋯ Performance of unvalidated pandemic ventilator triage predictors is unknown and possibly inferior to first-come, first-served allocation. Poor performance of unvalidated predictors proposed for triage would represent an inadequate plan for stewarding scarce resources and would deprive some patients of fair access to a ventilator, thus falling short of sound ethical foundations.
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Health Technol Assess · Jan 2015
The PAndemic INfluenza Triage in the Emergency Department (PAINTED) pilot cohort study.
Research needs to be undertaken rapidly in the event of an influenza pandemic to develop and evaluate triage methods for people presenting to the emergency department with suspected pandemic influenza. ⋯ An observational cohort study to identify the most accurate triage method for predicting severe illness in emergency department attendees with suspected pandemic influenza is set up and ready to activate if, or when, a pandemic occurs.