By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON — An Institute of Medicine (IOM) panel heard divergent views on how much gear a healthcare worker should wear to protect against H1N1 (swine flu) virus. With an expected resurgence of H1N1 this fall, the agency is hearing testimony this week to help it draft final guidelines on personal protective equipment (PPE) standards for healthcare workers, including goggles, surgical masks, N95 respirators, gloves, and gowns. Other than preliminary data from a Chinese trial indicating that the N95 respirator offered significantly more protection...

A toddler has died from suspected meningitis after being misdiagnosed with swine flu, the child’s parents have claimed. Georgia Keeling’s family say they were twice told their daughter had the H1N1 virus and should stay at home. The two-year-old died in hospital in Norfolk on Tuesday. “I don’t feel like the paramedics did their job properly,” father Paul Sewell, 21, told the Daily Mail. “Georgia wasn’t given a chance.” Tasha Keeling, the toddler’s mother, initially contacted her local health centre, who said it could be swine flu. The pandemic...

By MIKE BRODY (MYFOX NATIONAL) – As we head into the fall and winter months, many experts are predicting that the swine flu outbreak that surfaced in the spring will reappear much like the regular seasonal flu. While most are taking precautions to prevent themselves from catching the H1N1 virus, some doctors say that catching swine flu now, while it is mild, could prevent a more serious infection later by building immunity in those sickened by the new flu virus. “In the U.K. and Europe and America, it is spreading so fast that it is very likely that most people will be exposed to or...

By Bruce Japsen | Tribune staff reporter Baxter International Inc. on Wednesday said it has completed production of the first batches of its swine flu vaccine and has begun discussing distribution plans with certain national health programs. The Deerfield-based medical-products giant would not say how many dosages it has produced so far. Last month, Chief executive Bob Parkinson said the company’s plant in the Czech Republic was running at capacity as it fills orders for 80 million dosages of the vaccine to combat the H1N1 swine flu virus. Baxter vaccine orders for five countries do not...

By Marrecca Fiore With the world facing its first pandemic in 41 years, it’s easy to get caught up in all the hullabaloo that’s circulating about the swine flu. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the worst could be yet to come, so Americans need to prepare for a large outbreak this fall and winter as children return to school and people spend more time congregating indoors. To best prepare, it’s important to separate fact from fiction. Here are 10 of the most common myths about H1N1: Read More…

By Laura Harrison McBride It has already begun. New York state has made flu shots compulsory for all health-care workers in the state, despite nurses’ opposition, according to an article on the New York State Nursing Association website. The nurses, who noted that flu shots are never even close to 100% effective, and were largely ineffective in 2005 and 2007, fear two things. First, they note that the ruling does not allow for religious refusal, thus depriving some nurses of earning a living. Or causing them to leave a profession already suffering huge shortages. Read More…

Pneumonic Plague Strikes China Nevermind swine flu, China has a potentially bigger problem on its hands – the pneumonic plague has settled in one remote farming town. Three people have died at the hands of the disease so far, prompting authorities to kill rats and fleas on Tuesday as they disinfected and sealed off the town. The town of Ziketan in Qinghai province in northwestern China is about 300 miles west of Beijing. Police have set up checkpoints around the town after the outbreak was first detected on Thursday. The pneumonic plague is a lung infection that can kill a person in as few...

PAHO on Monday announced it had found Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 (swine) flu along the Texas-Mexico border, Agence-France Press reports. The discovery of several cases in El Paso and McAllen, Texas, adds the U.S. to a growing list of countries with antiviral-resistant H1N1, such as Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong and Japan. “Experts had gathered in La Jolla on Monday to discuss the response to the outbreak, and warned that resistant strains were likely emerging because of overuse of antivirals like Tamiflu,” the news service writes (8/3). “Roche, the manufacturer of Tamiflu, has said it...

By Deborah Kotz In recent conversations with friends, all I’ve been hearing about is swine flu. “I had it. I was sick for three days,” one friend told me. Her middle child came down with a mild case as well. Another friend said she had to cancel her business trip to Germany after her daughter tested positive for the virus. She was warned that she could be quarantined in her hotel room if she came down with it while traveling; she spent the week indoors with her kindergartner who had a 48-hour sore throat and fever — but didn’t wind up getting ill herself. After...

New mothers who are currently nursing their infants should continue to do so even if they have contracted the H1N1 virus, otherwise known as the swine flu. This is the current recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The benefits of breastmilk for a developing infant far outweigh the risks of swine flu, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. Additionally, experts interviewed in a report by the Press Association recommend continuing breastfeeding even if mom is taking antiviral medication to treat the H1N1 virus, claiming that the amount of...