Severe Pneumonia Caused by Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Successfully Managed with Extracorporeal Life Support in a Comorbid Former Preterm Infant

Genny Raffaeli, Giacomo Cavallaro, Lorenza Pugni, Ernesto Leva, Andrea Artoni, Simona Neri, Chiara Baracetti, Mauro Cotza, Valerio Gentilino, Leonardo Terranova, Susanna Esposito and Fabio Mosca
Additional contact information
Genny Raffaeli: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via della Commenda 12, 20122 Milan, Italy
Giacomo Cavallaro: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via della Commenda 12, 20122 Milan, Italy
Lorenza Pugni: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via della Commenda 12, 20122 Milan, Italy
Ernesto Leva: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via della Commenda 12, 20122 Milan, Italy
Andrea Artoni: Angelo Bianchi Bonomi Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Pace 9, 20122 Milan, Italy
Simona Neri: Pediatric Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Unit, Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Via della Commenda 9, 20122 Milan, Italy
Chiara Baracetti: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via della Commenda 12, 20122 Milan, Italy
Mauro Cotza: ECMO Team, Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia and Intensive Care, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, 20097 San Donato Milanese, Italy
Valerio Gentilino: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via della Commenda 12, 20122 Milan, Italy
Leonardo Terranova: Pediatric Highly Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via della Commenda 9, 20122 Milan, Italy
Susanna Esposito: Pediatric Highly Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via della Commenda 9, 20122 Milan, Italy
Fabio Mosca: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via della Commenda 12, 20122 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-11

Abstract: Influenza A (H1N1) virus infection is a global health burden, leading to significant pediatric morbidity and mortality. Prematurity, young age and comorbidities are important risk factors for unfavorable outcomes. Preventive strategies, such as healthcare workers and household contacts vaccination as well as the implementation of infection control practices during the epidemic season, are crucial to protect the most vulnerable populations. Early diagnosis, timely administration of antiviral drugs and supportive therapy are crucial to lead to a complete recovery. When conventional treatment fails, extracorporeal life support (ECLS) may be employed. In neonates and young infants, this high-tech support is burdened by specific technical complexity. Despite the potential risks related to this aggressive approach, ECLS is a life-saving procedure in 65% of pediatric viral pneumonia and in 73% of sepsis cases. Here, we report the successful outcome of a 51-day formerly preterm infant, suffering from a surgical necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), complicated with hospital-acquired pneumonia due to influenza A (H1N1) virus. She developed a severe respiratory failure, unresponsive to conventional therapy, and successfully treated with ECLS. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of ECLS in a formerly preterm infant, suffering from NEC complicated by influenza A (H1N1) virus infection.

Keywords: influenza A (H1N1) virus; pneumonia; extracorporeal life support (ECLS); neonate; preterm infant; young infant; neonatal intensive care unit; infection control measures; oseltamivir (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/4/360/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/4/360/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:4:p:360-:d:94688

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().