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Clinical Diagnostic Criteria For Isolating Patients Admitted To Hospital With Suspected Pandemic Influenza, John Gerrard, Gerben Keijzers, Ping Zhang, Caleb Vossen, Deborough Macbeth

Gerben Keijzers

Extract: Australian hospitals have now experienced the first wave of pandemic H1N1 influenza during a southern hemisphere winter. Patients admitted to Australian hospitals with suspected pandemic influenza during this period were identified by use of approved national clinical diagnostic criteria. However, the imprecise nature of clinical diagnosis limited the ability of hospitals to isolate infectious patients effectively before the laboratory confirmation of infection (which typically takes a minimum of 48 h).