Today, 1:30 to 4 p.m. in Room 243-245 on the second level of the Morial Convention Center

In the 13 months since the first cases of H1N1 influenza were reported, the world’s medical community has been collecting data on the epidemiology of the disease, its impact on the population, its resistance to some anti-virals and treatment strategies that are most effective.

With that in mind, “2009 H1N1 Pandemic Influenza, A Year Later: The Current State of Knowledge,” is a must-attend session for ATS International Conference attendees looking for the latest information on the H1N1 virus, which has become a worldwide pandemic.

A host of experts will inform attendees of developments that they may not have yet heard about, said Lewis Rubinson, M.D., Ph.D., a senior medical advisor in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

“I think the strength of this year’s symposium is the cast of international experts who are very familiar with H1N1, several of whom have based their careers on the study of influenza,” said Dr. Rubinson, who will co-chair the session with Richard J. Whitley, M.D., professor of pediatrics, microbiology, medicine and neurosurgery at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. “These speakers are considered some of the most knowledgeable flu experts in the world and will be able to provide us with an informed summary of H1N1 in 2009.”

For those who attended the symposium at ATS 2009 that addressed the emerging virus, the 2010 session will provide a more comprehensive overview of H1N1, as well as an update as to what scientists now know about the disease.

“The data that was available in May 2009 were not very accessible to most people,” said Dr. Rubinson, who is on faculty at the University of Washington Harborview Medical Center, Seattle. “Now that we’re further along in the pandemic, we know more about the overall epidemiology of H1N1.”

Co-sponsored by the ATS Assemblies on Environmental & Occupational Health and Microbiology, Tuberculosis & Pulmonary Infections, the session will look at H1N1-associated critical illness in adults and children using information provided by the HHS H1N1 Critical Illness Registry. Subsequent talks will focus on prevention—vaccines and anti-virals—and treatment—anti-virals and salvage therapy—for H1N1-induced acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF).

Timothy Uyeki, M.D., deputy chief of the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Influenza Division, will present “Summary of 2009 H1N1: Epidemiology, Disease Impact, Antiviral Resistance and Diagnostic Performance.”

“Tim is a world-renowned influenza clinical expert,” Dr. Rubinson said. “He will talk about the epidemiology and resistance of the virus, as well as how it has slightly changed over the past year.”

B. Taylor Thompson, M.D., who is associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, will present “2009 H1N1-Associated Critical Illness in Adults.”  Adrienne Randolph, M.D., an associate professor of anesthesia and the director of the RSV and Asthma Research Study Center at Children’s Hospital, Boston, will discuss critical illness in children caused by H1N1.

“Summary of 2009 H1N1 Treatments” will be presented by Frederick G. Hayden, M.D., a professor of internal medicine and pathology in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Virginia.

“No matter who puts together a short list of people that they’d like to have come speak about the flu, Dr. Hayden is always there at the top,” Dr. Rubinson said. “Fred has more information on the flu in his pinkie than most of us can ever hope to know. He will focus on the latest information in terms of what is known and not known regarding treating the virus.”

William W. Busse, M.D., professor of medicine, allergy, pulmonary and critical care medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, will then talk about the effect of severe asthma on the immune response to H1N1 immunization.

The co-moderators will end the session, with Dr. Whitley focusing on prevention strategies, followed by Dr. Rubinson, who will talk about H1N1 severe hypoxemic respiratory failure and the use and effectiveness of salvage therapies in 2009.