Kia Kaha Christchurch
To all affected by the Christchurch earthquake, the thoughts of the Life in the Fast Lane team are with you.
Category LITFL
Tooth Avulsion
Teeth avulsion is a medical/dental emergency that require prompt recognition and treatment in the emergency department.
Aussie Jingle Bells
With the festive season upon us, the Life in The Fast Lane team would like to share an Aussie Christmas favourite. This 'carol' embraces the passion of the Aussie lifestyle and lifts the spirits in 40 degree heat in a way snow laden caricatures cannot...
Lessons from 1918
I read a book called 'The Coming Plague' when I was in medical school. It was fascinating. It formed a picture of the world in my mind as a bubbling soup of seething micro-organisms waiting for the right circumstances to break out, to come forth and multiply
Swine Flu in ICU
A timely follow up to 'The Two Faces of Swine Flu' is 'Critical Care Services and 2009 H1N1 Influenza in Australia and New Zealand'. This 'hot off the press' paper by the ANZIC Influenza Investigators has just been published online in the NEJM.
What do you mean pandemic?
Despite the cessation of ‘pig kissing frolicks‘ it looks as though the WHO will eventually declare that 2009 H1N1 influenza A (‘swine flu’) has reached pandemic proportions (phase 6). What does this mean? A phase 6 influenza pandemic means that…
H1 N1 DON’T PANIC!
Swine Flu for Dummies, is it really a public health emergency of international concern
The Two Faces of Swine Flu
The sun is making more frequent cameos in our part of the world, suggesting summer may be on its way. Another, but less obvious, indicator of the change in seasons is the gradual decline in patients with swine flu (H1N1 09 influenza) needing treatment in our intensive care units.