Can Antibiotics treat H1N1 Swine Flu?

The CDC just reported a study of 77 people who died of the H1N1 swine flu, finding that 22 of those unfortunate 77 had evidence of bacterial coinfection in the lungs – meaning that bacterial pneumonia as well as the direct effects of viral H1N1 may have contributed to death.

In prior flu pandemics it is known that bacterial pneumonia was often responsible for many deaths. The initial viral infection seems to set the stage for a one-two punch.

In this newest study, bacterial coinfections caused by S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, S. aureus, and group A Streptococcus were proven using modern techniques on postmortem lung tissue samples. Out of the 22 samples found to have bacterial infections, the most common pathogen isolated was Streptococcus pneumoniae.

These results cannot be used to determine the prevalence of bacterial coinfection in all fatal cases due to several limitations (including the fact that not all possible bacteria could be tested for, knowledge of the final cause of death in some patients was limited, and tissue samples may have been collected from unaffected portions of the lung).

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