Sometimes good things happen when you least expect them…remember all of the hoopla over the 1976 vaccination program for the pandemic that never happened? Turns out now that people who got immunized against the 1976 “swine flu” epidemic that never materialized may have benefited from the shots after all — they may have been protected from the 2009 H1N1 swine flu strain. Tests of blood from medical staff and their spouses showed those who had [...]
H1N1 (Swine Flu): Mandatory Policy Increased Influenza Vaccinations Among Healthcare Workers
A mandatory program that asked health care workers (HCW) in a multihospital health system to choose between vaccination and termination resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of employees protected against influenza in the 2008-2009 season, as well as fewer requests for vaccine exemptions compared with previous years. The initiative achieved a 98.4% vaccine coverage rate among BJC HealthCare’s 25,980 active employees, representing a 43.4% increase from the organization’s 2006 vaccination rates and a [...]
H1N1 (Swine Flu): Myocarditis Associated With Pandemic H1N1 Virus in Children
A highly scientific and well-written and documented paper in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology reported an unusual complication of H1N1 in children. Acute myocarditis is a well-recognized, however rare, manifestation of numerous viral infections with a broad spectrum of symptoms and clinical features. Fulminant myocarditis may present with fatal arrhythmias and blocks, and/or varying degrees of cardiogenic shock. The prevalence of myocardial involvement in influenza infection ranges from 0 to 11% depending [...]
H1N1 (Swine Flu): WHO Update On Human Cases Of 2009 Avian Influenza (H5N1) Infections
The World Health Organization (WHO) just issued the report of the 2009 laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) virus. There were 73 cases reported to the WHO from five countries. Geographical Distribution The 73 laboratory-confirmed cases of H5N1 virus infection were reported from: Cambodia (1 case) China (7) Egypt (39) Indonesia (21) Viet Nam (5) All of these countries had reported human cases of H5N1 previously. Circulation of highly [...]
