By Heather Mayer From Mexico to China, people around the world have worn face masks to protect against swine flu, also known as the H1N1 virus. The problem? Experts could never say for sure whether such masks actually help you stay healthy. Now, the largest study to date on the subject suggests they do. When sick people and their families wear surgical face masks and wash their hands within the first 36 hours of symptoms, healthy family members are indeed less likely to get seasonal flu, researchers say. They think the results may apply to H1N1 as well. Read More…

by Tim Lewis NHS workers battling swine flu have been put at extra risk after being given the wrong protective face masks, nurses have claimed. A mix-up with orders of specialised fluid-repellent masks has left frontline workers having to wear ordinary surgical masks which are virtually useless at protecting those wearing them against swine flu. One NHS worker from Swansea, who asked not to be named, said: “We were all given masks but then they sent out a letter to everyone to say they were the wrong ones and would have to be replaced. Read More…

Fort Worth Star-Telegram FORT WORTH – When Angela Witkamp heard that a local research company would soon be testing a swine flu vaccine, she had no reservations about signing up her two young daughters for a clinical trial. “Any vaccination you get, there are side effects,” Witkamp said. “But the benefits of getting the vaccination definitely outweigh them. There are people dying from the swine flu. “Some of my friends call us guinea pigs, but they are not fully informed. The vaccination that they will be studying will be the same that anyone can get at the health department...

Pregnant women, health care workers, and children are first in line. ATLANTA (AP) – Pregnant women, health care workers and children six months and older should be placed at the front of the line for swine flu vaccinations this fall, a government panel recommended Wednesday. The panel also said those first vaccinated should include parents and other caregivers of infants; non-elderly adults who have high-risk medical conditions; and young adults ages 19 to 24. Read More…

Public health officials have an enormous task ahead, preparing for the 2009-10 flu season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predict that the swine flu, which was first identified last April, could strike with a vengeance in the 2009-10 flu season. As much as 40 percent of the United States population could get swine flu this year, according to CDC estimates released in late July. Without an aggressive and thorough vaccine campaign, anywhere from 90,000 to several hundred thousand Americans could die. In a typical flu season, about 36,000 people in the United States die from the flu...

Health campaigns to target pregnant women By Dahleen Glanton | Tribune reporter With pregnant women facing a high risk of death from swine flu, health officials in Illinois are planning an aggressive campaign to educate doctors and encourage expectant mothers to get vaccinated against the virus, which threatens to spread rapidly this fall. “In general, when people are pregnant, they are reluctant to take medication they fear might cause harm to the child,” said Dr. Julie Morita, medical director for the immunization program at the Chicago Department of Public Health. “But if...

Associated Press SACRAMENTO — Health officials say a Sacramento-area cancer nurse’s death is the first among California health care workers related to swine flu. Mercy San Juan Medical Center spokesman Bryan Gardner said officials at the Carmichael hospital do not know if 51-year-old Karen Ann Hays contracted the virus on the job. Family members described her as fit and athletic. She died July 17. In the San Francisco Bay area, two new mothers died from the virus, also known as H1N1, shortly after giving birth. A 33-year-old Marin County woman was hospitalized with flu symptoms and gave...

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Health officials say their count of U.S. swine flu deaths has risen to 353 and swine-flu associated hospitalizations have grown to more than 5,500. The cumulative number of deaths rose from the 302 reported last Friday. Last week, health officials said there have been about 44,000 lab-confirmed illnesses but the government would stop providing such counts. Officials believe more than 1 million Americans have had the infection, but many cases go unreported. Swine flu has continued to spread, but the number of states with widespread activity has been dropping. Now there are...

New cases of swine flu may be plateauing with an estimated 110,000 people diagnosed with the disease last week. By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor Up until now cases have been doubling weekly, but there was just a 10 per cent rise in the estimated new swine flu diagnoses in the seven days until July 26th. An estimated one in every 158 people in England are thought to have had swine flu since the outbreak began in England at the end of April.Children under the age of one are ten times more likely to have contracted the virus than people over the age of 75, underlining that younger people are at...

Pregnant women should be receiving the antiviral drug Tamiflu at the first sign of symptoms of influenza, but many physicians are delaying treatment because of long-held prejudices about using any drugs during pregnancy, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week in the medical journal Lancet. Experts fear the same reluctance when the vaccine for the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus becomes available this fall. Historically, fewer than 15% of pregnant women are vaccinated for seasonal flu, despite the high risk of complications associated with infection. Read...