Heart failure among patients admitted with Influenza. The influenza subtypes, seasonality and mortality: A case series.

Respiratory infections like influenza infections have been found to increase the risk of coronary artery disease and precipitate cardiac failure. However, Indian data is lacking. A retrospective observational study was done to describe patients with influenza infection who had concomitant heart failure (HF) requiring admission over 5 years (January 2013-December 2017). A total of 93 influenza cases were hospitalised during this time, of which 14 (15%) also had features of HF. Among them, the types of influenza infection were AH1N1 (6,43%), BH1N1 (4,29%), AH3N2 (3,21%) with one patient having both strains. Two-thirds of the HF were new onset (10, 71%), whereas rest were due to acute worsening of pre-existing HF (4, 29%). Ten (64.3%) of the patients had HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The average hospital stay was 10 days with 2 (14%) deaths. The peak of influenza in August and September preceded the peak admission for HF. A total of 15% of influenza admissions have concomitant HF. They are predominantly due to influenza A H1N1 (43%), influenza A H3N2 (21%) and influenza B (29%). Only 7% had preceding influenza vaccination. Influenza during August and September appears to precede the peak of HF admissions which happen in October and November. Overall mortality was 14.

Organising pneumonia in Rhupus syndrome.

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is seen in 17% of patients with Rhupus syndrome. Organising pneumonia (OP), a subtype of connective tissue disease-associated ILD, is rare but associated with good outcomes. Here, we present a patient with Rhupus who developed OP.

Hepatotoxicity and neurotoxicity of Fipronil poisoning in human: A case report.

Fipronil is an N-phenylprazole insecticide which is commonly used pesticide in south India. In animals it has been described to cause toxic manifestations mainly in the Gastro-intestinal (GI) and Central nervous system (CNS) and less commonly in kidney and liver. The available medical literature about toxic effects of Fipronil consumption in humans has been very little and mostly limited to acute GI and neurological manifestation mostly lasting for less than three days. We report the case of a 32-year-old gentleman who had consumed Fipronil (5%) in an attempt of deliberate self-harm. The patient had neurotoxicity features in the form of seizures and decreased sensorium requiring intensive medical care with mechanical ventilation and also had hepatotoxicity. Both hepatotoxicity and neurotoxicity lasted for nearly three weeks. The patient improved with supportive therapy and gradually overcame both the toxicities.