The swine flu outbreak is surging again, and researchers speculate that it will only increase as we enter the flu season. To address growing concerns about treatment and containment of the disease, Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shared some facts about H1N1 influenza. –todd williams
What warning signs of the flu should patients and doctors look for?
When you get the flu, your immune system is weakened and you’re more susceptible to other infections. That’s an important message for doctors. [If] someone has the flu, and they get better only to get worse again, with a high fever, that’s a clue that they should be treated with antibiotics. [But] most people with the flu don’t have to be treated.
Who is most susceptible to the H1N1 virus?
Children with special needs — cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and other developmental disabilities — [should be] promptly treated if they develop [a] fever during flu season. We’ve been working closely with pediatric societies, parent groups and others to ensure that [they] are at the front of the line for flu vaccination when it becomes available.
Should health care workers be concerned?
Protecting health care workers is critically important. Protecting health care workers involves many different factors, including how the hospital or health care setting is organized, whether people who are not severely ill come in for care and overwhelm the system and how many different health care workers have contact with people who may be infected. The Institute of Medicine is charged at looking at what kind of mask or respirator health care workers should use.
How soon will vaccinations be available?
We continue to anticipate that the vaccine will be available by the middle of October. The vaccine itself will be free but individual providers [may charge an] administration [fee], although we anticipate that in the public health system, all vaccines will be free. …We’re [recommending] that people with underlying conditions, [such as] diabetes, asthma, lung disease, heart disease, neuromuscular conditions, neurological conditions and women who are pregnant, get vaccinated.
