Posts Tagged ‘H1N1’
Mild flu season still holds risk of H1N1
“Health officials confirmed the season’s first Idaho case of H1N1 on Wednesday in Canyon County.” H1N1 has also made an appearance before the end of this year’s flu season. Read more on other findings in Idaho.
The first three months of the year are usually the peak of the flu season and that appears to be the case this year. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu cases were just sporadic in Idaho until… Click here to read more!
Influenza Season Week 5 ending February 5, 2011
CDC Says “Take 3” Actions To Fight The Flu
The CDC recommends three easy steps to fight the flu virus this season. Stay healthy during the winter months and follow these easy to-dos in order to keep your immune system strong and healthy!
CDC Says “Take 3” Actions To Fight The Flu
Flu is a serious contagious disease that can lead to hospitalization and even death. In 2009–2010, a new and very different flu virus (called 2009 H1N1) spread worldwide causing the first flu pandemic in more than 40 years. Flu is unpredictable, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expects the 2009 H1N1 virus to spread this upcoming season along with other seasonal flu viruses.
Feds: Pupils with H1N1 should wear masks
By Joseph Weber
Washington Times
Students and teachers infected with the dangerous and unpredictable H1N1 virus should immediately be isolated and given a mask, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday.
The guideline is part of a larger, comprehensive plan issued by the federal government for public and private schools (kindergarten through 12th grade) preparing to reopen in the fall, and it revises an earlier directive to shutter classrooms in an outbreak, which left working parents in a child-care quandary during last spring’s panic.
Recommendation of HICPAC Influenza A (H1N1) Working Group
JEMS.com
by Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
2009 Aug 3
At a public meeting held on July 23, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) unanimously adopted the recommendations of the Influenza A (H1N1) Working Group with regards to “Interim Guidance for Infection Control for Care of Patients with Confirmed or Suspected Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Infection in a Healthcare Setting.” The Working Group recommendations were based on the results of a systematic review on respiratory protection devices for Influenza A (H1N1) performed by the Center for Evidence-Based Practice at the University of Pennsylvania Health System in June 2009. The guidance development process continues with a CDC meeting to hear the views of labor organizations on July 28. On August 11-14, 2009, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) will convene an expert panel on personal protective equipment for healthcare personnel in the workplace against H1N1. The guidance development process is expected to be completed by October 1, 2009. APIC is pleased that the Working Group recommendations are consistent with an APIC-endorsed position paper.
CDC: EMS workers a priority for H1N1 vaccine
ATLANTA — Health care workers, emergency medical personnel, pregnant women and healthy people between 6 months and 24 years old are among the target groups to receive the vaccine against the H1N1 virus when it first becomes available.
That’s one of several recommendations approved Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The recommendations are based upon completion of clinical trials and when a safe vaccine is available. Five companies are making the vaccine, which officials hope will be available in October.
Australian ambulance service takes measures to protect staff from swine flu
July 28, 2009
by EMS1.com
NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia — In an effort to protect workers from the H1N1 influenza virus, all members of the Ambulance Service of New South Wales, Australia, are now required to wear face masks while tending to patients.
Signed into effect on Tuesday, the new Standard Operating Procedure mandates all paramedics, patient transport officers, and ambulance volunteers employ protective goggles and masks until respiratory symptoms can be excluded from patient diagnoses.
The measure is designed to maximize staff safety and minimize risk for patients, according to Ambulance Service of NSW chief executive Greg Rochford.
Swine flu tally halted as school year fears loom
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 6:32 p.m. ET, Fri., July 17, 2009
Worldwide cases of the new H1N1 swine flu virus are spreading so fast that overwhelmed global health officials have stopped counting and officials with the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say they’ll soon follow suit.
But that’s likely only a preview of what will happen in the fall — or even sooner — when a surge of new cases is likely to emerge as families resume more normal schedules after the summer break.
Tests Confirm Police Officer Died from H1N1
WXYZ.com
Last Update: 6/18 6:52 pm
The Michigan Department of Community Health confirms that a Madison Heights Police Officer who died after falling ill tested positive for the H1N1 swine flu.
Officer Ryan Settlemoir was hospitalized last month after experiencing flu-like symptoms. It has also been determined that the 28-year-old officer had other health conditions, but the MDCH says he died from the H1N1 virus.
H1N1 in Correctional Facilities
What about cases in detainment and correctional facilities?
James J. Augustine, MD
2009 Jun 25
JEMS.com
A growing number of H1N1 cases are being reported in detainment and correctional facilities across the U.S., which prompts the question: How should EMS providers collaborate with these facilities and their staff?
Contagious diseases spread quickly in jails, prisons and other sites with crowded living quarters. Staff members are used to wearing gloves, are aware of the need to regularly clean detainee areas with disinfectants, and know that ill detainees should be isolated from the general population. The challenge is to equip these correctional facilities with the resources to protect against the respiratory spread of H1N1.