Clinicopathologic Study of Thirty-Three Fatal Cases of Asian Influenza

Abstract

THE 1957 pandemic of Asian influenza was associated with a high attack rate and excess pneumonia mortality1; influenza-associated deaths were most common at the extremes of life. Although case fatality rates were low, the course of some cases was fulminant2 3 4 5 and comparable with the rapidly lethal variety of influenza observed in the pandemic of 1918–206 and in several subsequent epidemics.7 Recent reports of deaths associated with Asian influenza2 3 4 5 , 8 9 10 11 12 describe explosive, rapidly progressive and unresponsive respiratory failure frequently associated with staphylococcal infection, primary influenzal pneumonitis, neurologic and cardiac involvement, the rare isolation of Haemophilus influenzae from the respiratory tract and . . .