Highly Accessed Letter

Early corticosteroid treatment for severe pneumonia caused by 2009 H1N1 influenza virus

Hong-Ryang Kil1, Jae-Ho Lee1, Kyung-Yil Lee2,3*, Jung-Woo Rhim2,3, You-Sook Youn2,3 and Jin-Han Kang3

Author Affiliations

1 Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Chungnam National University, 640 Daesa-dong, Jung-gu, Deajeon 301-747, South Korea

2 Department of Pediatrics, The Catholic University of Korea, Daejeon St. Mary’s Hospital, 520 Daeheung-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon 301-723, South Korea

3 Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-701, South Korea

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Critical Care 2011, 15:413 doi:10.1186/cc10082

Published: 22 March 2011

First paragraph (this article has no abstract)

A pandemic of the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus infection occurred worldwide in 2009. Some previously healthy patients experienced rapidly progressive pneumonia leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and even death. The effect of corticosteroids on these severely affected patients is controversial because of a lack of controlled clinical trials [1].