Prognosis

Most cases of H1N1 swine influenza A have been relatively mild and characterised as a self-limited respiratory illness. Many patients will feel ill and should be counselled to stay at home and avoid exposing the public, until 7 days after the onset of symptoms or 24 hours after the fever has abated (whichever is longer). Complete recovery is the usual course. Rarely, complications, including severe pneumonia leading to death, have occurred. How to identify which patients will develop severe complications is not well understood.