ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical characteristics of 3 community outbreaks of the novel influenza A (H1N1), and to compare the treatment effects of the traditional Chinese medicine with or without Oseltamivir. METHOD: The clinical records of 234 patients in 3 community outbreaks of the novel influenza A (H1N1) infection in June (n = 56), August (n = 96) and October (n = 82) of 2009 were analyzed, and the treatment effects of the traditional Chinese medicine with or without Oseltamivir were evaluated. RESULTS: The baseline characteristics, including age, temperature, indices of blood tests, hepatic and renal functions were distributed evenly between the 2 treatment groups. The overall analysis suggested that there was no significant difference between the 2 treatment groups in the duration of clinical symptoms (P > 0.05), the duration of fever (P > 0.05), and the hospitalization days (P > 0.05). However, an analysis stratified by the temperature (≥ 39°C or < 39°C) suggested that patients treated by the traditional Chinese medicine with Oseltamivir tended to suffer a shorter duration of fever [40.5 (37.3, 42.0) vs 22.0 (10.5, 30.8) hr, P < 0.01) ] in the higher temperature group. CONCLUSIONS: The traditional Chinese medicine was equivalent to oseltamivir in treating patients with the novel influenza A (H1N1) infection with lower temperature (< 39°C). Oseltamivir was effective in shortening the duration of fever in patients with temperature higher than 39°C.
