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The Spread of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in Victorian School Children in 2009: Implications for Revised Pandemic Planning

BACKGROUND: Victoria was the first state in Australia to experience community transmission of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09. We undertook a descriptive epidemiological analysis of the first 1,000 notified cases to describe the epidemic associated with school children and explore implications for school clo...

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Autores principales: Fielding, James E., Bergeri, Isabel, Higgins, Nasra, Kelly, Heath A., Meagher, Julian, McBryde, Emma S., Moran, Rodney, Hellard, Margaret E., Lester, Rosemary A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3582498/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23468949
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057265
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author Fielding, James E.
Bergeri, Isabel
Higgins, Nasra
Kelly, Heath A.
Meagher, Julian
McBryde, Emma S.
Moran, Rodney
Hellard, Margaret E.
Lester, Rosemary A.
author_facet Fielding, James E.
Bergeri, Isabel
Higgins, Nasra
Kelly, Heath A.
Meagher, Julian
McBryde, Emma S.
Moran, Rodney
Hellard, Margaret E.
Lester, Rosemary A.
author_sort Fielding, James E.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Victoria was the first state in Australia to experience community transmission of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09. We undertook a descriptive epidemiological analysis of the first 1,000 notified cases to describe the epidemic associated with school children and explore implications for school closure and antiviral distribution policy in revised pandemic plans. METHODS: Records of the first 1,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 notified to the Victorian Government Department of Health between 20 May and 5 June 2009 were extracted from the state’s notifiable infectious diseases database. Descriptive analyses were conducted on case demographics, symptoms, case treatment, prophylaxis of contacts and distribution of cases in schools. RESULTS: Two-thirds of the first 1,000 cases were school-aged (5–17 years) with cases in 203 schools, particularly along the north and western peripheries of the metropolitan area. Cases in one school accounted for nearly 8% of all cases but the school was not closed until nine days after symptom onset of the first identified case. Amongst all cases, cough (85%) was the most commonly reported symptom followed by fever (68%) although this was significantly higher in primary school children (76%). The risk of hospitalisation was 2%. The median time between illness onset and notification of laboratory confirmation was four days, with only 10% of cases notified within two days of onset and thus eligible for oseltamivir treatment. Nearly 6,000 contacts were followed up for prophylaxis. CONCLUSIONS: With a generally mild clinical course and widespread transmission before its detection, limited and short-term school closures appeared to have minimal impact on influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 transmission. Antiviral treatment could rarely be delivered to cases within 48 hours of symptom onset. These scenarios and lessons learned from them need to be incorporated into revisions of pandemic plans.
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spelling pubmed-35824982013-03-06 The Spread of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in Victorian School Children in 2009: Implications for Revised Pandemic Planning Fielding, James E. Bergeri, Isabel Higgins, Nasra Kelly, Heath A. Meagher, Julian McBryde, Emma S. Moran, Rodney Hellard, Margaret E. Lester, Rosemary A. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Victoria was the first state in Australia to experience community transmission of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09. We undertook a descriptive epidemiological analysis of the first 1,000 notified cases to describe the epidemic associated with school children and explore implications for school closure and antiviral distribution policy in revised pandemic plans. METHODS: Records of the first 1,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 notified to the Victorian Government Department of Health between 20 May and 5 June 2009 were extracted from the state’s notifiable infectious diseases database. Descriptive analyses were conducted on case demographics, symptoms, case treatment, prophylaxis of contacts and distribution of cases in schools. RESULTS: Two-thirds of the first 1,000 cases were school-aged (5–17 years) with cases in 203 schools, particularly along the north and western peripheries of the metropolitan area. Cases in one school accounted for nearly 8% of all cases but the school was not closed until nine days after symptom onset of the first identified case. Amongst all cases, cough (85%) was the most commonly reported symptom followed by fever (68%) although this was significantly higher in primary school children (76%). The risk of hospitalisation was 2%. The median time between illness onset and notification of laboratory confirmation was four days, with only 10% of cases notified within two days of onset and thus eligible for oseltamivir treatment. Nearly 6,000 contacts were followed up for prophylaxis. CONCLUSIONS: With a generally mild clinical course and widespread transmission before its detection, limited and short-term school closures appeared to have minimal impact on influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 transmission. Antiviral treatment could rarely be delivered to cases within 48 hours of symptom onset. These scenarios and lessons learned from them need to be incorporated into revisions of pandemic plans. Public Library of Science 2013-02-26 /pmc/articles/PMC3582498/ /pubmed/23468949 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057265 Text en © 2013 Fielding et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Fielding, James E.
Bergeri, Isabel
Higgins, Nasra
Kelly, Heath A.
Meagher, Julian
McBryde, Emma S.
Moran, Rodney
Hellard, Margaret E.
Lester, Rosemary A.
The Spread of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in Victorian School Children in 2009: Implications for Revised Pandemic Planning
title The Spread of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in Victorian School Children in 2009: Implications for Revised Pandemic Planning
title_full The Spread of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in Victorian School Children in 2009: Implications for Revised Pandemic Planning
title_fullStr The Spread of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in Victorian School Children in 2009: Implications for Revised Pandemic Planning
title_full_unstemmed The Spread of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in Victorian School Children in 2009: Implications for Revised Pandemic Planning
title_short The Spread of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in Victorian School Children in 2009: Implications for Revised Pandemic Planning
title_sort spread of influenza a(h1n1)pdm09 in victorian school children in 2009: implications for revised pandemic planning
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3582498/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23468949
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057265
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