[canada.com] An intensive care doctor speaking Wednesday at a conference on the H1N1 pandemic said the virus is the “most frightening” thing he has seen in his career — and other experts here warned that hospitals are not yet ready for a surge of severely sick patients.

In an interview just prior to his address, Dr. Anand Kumar said he wanted to give the audience “the flavour” of what hospitals can expect to see when the second wave of the pandemic is expected to come this fall and winter.

“I think it’s an absolutely massive onslaught of incredibly sick young people that I had never imagined I would see in my life,” Kumar said of his experience treating patients in Winnipeg’s intensive care units. “It’s startling, and more than a little frightening, especially when you don’t know what the ceiling of this is going to be.”

The two-day conference, which has drawn together about 150 health-care professionals and experts from across the country and around the world, is focused on how to manage severe cases of the swine flu and prevent them from deteriorating. Also on the agenda are discussions about Canada’s vaccine strategy — under attack this week from the Canadian Medical Association Journal — the use of antivirals, medical ethics and clinical care guidelines. The sessions are closed to media.

Most cases of swine flu in Canada have been mild, but there is a subset of patients who are getting very sick. At least 72 deaths have been linked to H1N1 and more than 1,366 people have been hospitalized. Of those patients, more than 240 have spent time in intensive care units.

Despite the rather ominous description offered by Kumar, he said young and healthy people shouldn’t be scared and that the vast majority of people who contract the virus recover well.

Hospitals, however, know they need to prepare for an onslaught of critically ill patients in the event the pandemic worsens.