Swine flu: Common disease with a rare complication

Abstract

H1N1 pneumonia is one of the most common causes of community-acquired pneumonia in India. It occurs throughout the year without any seasonal variation. The clinical presentation of the disease varies in severity each year and complications associated with it are most unusual. We recently reported a case of recurrent pneumomediastinum associated with H1N1. Here, we want to report another patient who was diagnosed with severe H1N1 pneumonia complicated by a cardiac tamponade. Cardiac tamponade is a life threatening complication of viral pneumonia and needs to addressed immediately. Ours is the first case report with cardiac tamponade associated with H1N1 pneumonia.