European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

H1N1 INFECTION AND ITS NEUROPSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATIONS

Shalini Malhotra, Pradeep Kumar, Nirmaljit Kaur*, Nandini Duggal and M. S. Bhatia

ABSTRACT

Influenza is a viral infectious disease commonly referred as „flu‟. Humans develop the swine flu infection when they are closely associated with pigs (for example, farmers, pork processors), and likewise, pig populations have occasionally been infected with the human flu infection. The 2009 H1N1 influenza virus was first detected in people in the United States in April 2009. More recently in 2015, a mutant strain of H1N1 which caused the global pandemic in 2009, spread across India with over 10,000 reported cases and 774 deaths. Acute neurological manifestations have been reported during epidemics and are often consistent with serious sequelae or death. The other neurological complications are seizures, Reye's Syndrome (RS), acute necrotizing encephalopathy, transverse myelitis, and aseptic meningitis as well as autoimmune conditions, such as Guillian-Barre Syndrome (GBS). The psychiatric complications include depression, mania, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and dementia.

Keywords: Influenza, Swine flu, Epidemiology, Neurological complications, Psychiatric sequelae, Treatment.