Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Cases, Buenos Aires, Argentina

ECHAVARRIA M; QUERCI M; MARCONE D; VIDELA C; MARTINEZ A; BONVEHI P; CARBALLAL G

EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

CENTERS DISEASE CONTROL

Año: 2010 vol. 16 p. 311 - 313

1080-6040

A novel influenza A (H1N1) virus emerged in mid-April 2009 and spread rapidly among humans worldwide (1,2). The virus, pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus, is a unique combination of gene segments from North American and Eurasian swine lineages and ancestral genes derived from avian species and humans (3,4). In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the first laboratory-confirmed case of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 was documented May 16, 2009, in a patient who had traveled to the United States. This index case seeded an elementary school outbreak in Buenos Aires, and, within days, several schools reported increasing numbers of cases. The public health response included closure of schools with laboratory-confirmed influenza subtype H1N1 cases, voluntary self-isolation and oseltamivir treatment of suspected and confirmed patients, and recommended chemoprophylaxis for contacts. Despite these interventions, cases increased among the school-age and general population