Pregnancy and H1N1 infection in Southeast Turkey

H1N1 Influenza made a great impact a worldwide, as well as in Turkey, in 2009. Clinical experiences have shown that it had a more serious prognosis in pregnant women. In this report, we summarize the cases of 16 pregnant women with H1N1 Influenza.

The study included 16 pregnant women hospitalized in Dicle University Hospital with complaints of fever, sore throat, cough and myalgia between October and December 2009. The diagnosis of pandemic H1N1 Influenza was confirmed on nasopharyngeal specimens using real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in all patients. Patients who had the same complaints but were not diagnosed as H1N1 Influenza were excluded. The epidemiological, clinical, diagnostic, and outcome features of the patients were recorded.

The median age of the patients was 27 years (range 18-41 years). The mean gestational age was 25.4 weeks (range 5-38 weeks). Two cases were twin pregnancy. Two cases had co-morbid diseases including asthma and anemia. The most frequent admission symptoms were fever in 13 cases (81%), cough in 12 cases (75%) and dyspnea in 6 cases (37,5%). Antiviral treatment (oseltamivir 75 mg p.o. bid) was applied in 15 cases. Four cases needed intensive care monitoring and two of them died (12.5%) because of severe respiratory insufficiency.

Patients with late gestational age, the presence of co-morbid disease, and multiple pregnancy have poor prognosis. Immediate intervention with antiviral treatment is associated with reduced severity of the disease and duration of hospital stay.