pandemic news from FierceHealthcare
News
Study: Early vaccinations could cut H1N1-related deaths
To blunt the impact of the H1N1 pandemic, which should be beginning to spike as you read this, vaccinations should start as quickly as possible, according to new research. Researchers with Stanford... Read more...
H1N1 flu could overtax hospital bed capacity
If the spread of the H1N1 virus isn't contained well, and 35 percent of the population gets the flu, at least 15 states could run out of hospital beds as the pandemic peaks, according to a new... Read more...
OIG: At least five states aren't pandemic-ready
The HHS Office of the Inspector General has just released a report concluding that at least five states aren't ready for a pandemic such as the H1N1 virus, despite six years of funding and planning... Read more...
Study: Swine flu vaccines may not arrive in time to beat fall infection spike
Let's hope that the more pessimistic estimates of swine flu spread aren't accurate. If so, things could get a bit ugly in October, when another outbreak of the H1N1 virus is expected to peak.... Read more...
Stanford Hospital tests drive-through ED to control pandemic diseases
Though it might sound a bit comical at first--"Hey, doctor, can I have a hamburger, some fries and a throat culture?"--Stanford Hospital hospital's new drive-through ED has a deadly serious purpose.... Read more...
Report: One in six public health workers would stay home in flu emergency
This isn't encouraging news: A new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has concluded that if there were a pandemic flu emergency, roughly one in six public health workers... Read more...
Primary care group outlines swine flu management plan
Emergency departments are increasingly being hit with inflows of patients fearful that they have the H1N1 influenza virus, otherwise known as swine flu. Hoping to help hospitals manage the problem,... Read more...
Lack of flu supplies a potential problem
If we hope to make it through the throes of the next flu season, we'd better increase our stock of supplies in a hurry. The Boston Globe reports that the arrival of swine flu in the United States... Read more...
Swine flu fears jamming emergency departments
Flood newspapers, radio and television with publicity about a potentially deadline pandemic, and what do you get? Well, overflowing emergency departments, for one thing. Many U.S. hospitals are being... Read more...
Hospitals, officials gear up for swine-flu fight
For years, there's been talk of how the U.S. health establishment might react if a deliberately-inflicted outbreak of infectious diseases treatable with flu drugs--notably bird flu--were to break out... Read more...
