Hospital triage system for adult patients using an influenza-like illness scoring system during the 2009 pandemic--Mexico.

Background: Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus emerged during 2009. To help clinicians triage adults with acute respiratory illness, a scoring system for influenza-like illness (ILI) was implemented at Hospital Civil de Guadalajara, Mexico.

Methods: A medical history, laboratory and radiology results were collected on emergency room (ER) patients with acute respiratory illness to calculate an ILI-score.

Pandemic potential of a strain of influenza A (H1N1): early findings.

A novel influenza A (H1N1) virus has spread rapidly across the globe. Judging its pandemic potential is difficult with limited data, but nevertheless essential to inform appropriate health responses. By analyzing the outbreak in Mexico, early data on international spread, and viral genetic diversity, we make an early assessment of transmissibility and severity.

[Severe acute respiratory syndrome: a global overview of the epidemic].

In early February 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) began receiving reports of patients with a syndrome characterized by an atypical pneumonia with rapid progression to respiratory failure without an identified cause despite extensive diagnostic workups. Most of these reports pointed out that the outbreak started in Southern China, specifically in the Guandong Province. The initial outbreak in South East Asia has already spread to other Regions in Asia, Europe, North and South America, and South Africa.