Influenza Follow Up

Monitoring

Outpatients  

As resources permit, the local health facility should follow up on non-hospitalized patients through home visits and telephone contact. Follow-up should be done within 24 to 48 hours as most avian influenza patients develop pneumonia on days 4 to 5 after the onset of symptoms. Patients should seek medical treatment if their condition worsens.  

Adult patients should observe social contact restriction and infection control procedures for 7 days after the resolution of fever and symptoms. Children under 12 years old should observe social contact restriction and infection control procedures for 21 days after the resolution of symptoms and fever.  

Inpatients  

Isolation precautions should be continued for 14 days after the onset of symptoms until an alternative diagnosis is established or until diagnostic test results indicate that the patient is not infected with the influenza A virus. Serial respiratory and blood specimens may be requested to check for possible bacterial infection. For patients discharged before 14 days, it is recommended that they be isolated in the home setting.

Complications

Pneumonia is the most common complication of influenza virus. Influenza may be followed by viral pneumonia and secondary bacterial pneumonia especially in severely ill patients.

Other complications include otitis media, parotitis, tracheobronchitis, acute sinusitis, rhabdomyolysis with renal failure, myocarditis, hemophagocytic syndrome, multi-organ failure, encephalitis, and worsening of underlying conditions.