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Update to federal guidelines comes on the heels of Bend woman?s death from virus
By Scott Hammers and Keith Chu / The Bulletin
Published: August 20. 2009 4:00AM PST
Swine flu now an epidemic in Japan
A federal official coordinating responses to the swine flu epidemic said the government is updating its guidelines for hospitals responding to the anticipated outbreak. Dr. Toby Merlin, deputy director of the influenza coordination unit for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke took questions in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday about how businesses should prepare for a new flare-up of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu. Projections from the CDC indicate up to 40 percent of the population may contract swine flu this winter.
The conference call comes less than a week after Central Oregon recorded its first swine flu-related fatality. Friday, 34-year-old Dawn Peck, a mother of three from Bend, died at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, where she apparently contracted the virus while undergoing treatment for leukemia.
Peck was diagnosed with leukemia in March and had recently undergone a bone marrow transplant. A spokeswoman for OHSU said a bone marrow transplant patient, like Peck, would have a suppressed immune system, limiting her body?s ability to fight off swine flu or other illnesses.
For hospitals, the key is separating people suspected of carrying swine flu from other patients, Merlin said, in response to a question by The Bulletin.
?The most important thing is to identify individuals who come into their facilities, be they patients or patients? families, or staff who might be ill, and for patients who might be ill with influenza-like symptoms, to encourage those patients to self-identify so they can be handled appropriately,? Merlin said.
Merlene Morris, the infections control coordinator for St. Charles Bend and Redmond, said both hospitals take extra ?droplet precautions? with patients with flu-like symptoms. The flu virus is transmitted primarily through droplets released when an infected individual coughs or sneezes. To avoid transmission, staff working with such a patient would wear a surgical mask at all times, Morris said, and the patient would wear a mask if he or she were being transported across the hospital.
?This has been the standard for several years, that when someone presents with flu-like symptoms, we automatically use the droplet precautions until influenza is either ruled in or ruled out,? Morris said. ?It gives us some time to sort out what might be going on with them.?
Morris said while she was not familiar with Peck?s case, individuals with compromised immune systems due to unrelated medical conditions are highly susceptible to all varieties of influenza.
Swine flu is little different than other strains of influenza in terms of its potential for transmission or in its severity, according to state epidemiologist Katrina Hedberg. Unlike seasonal flu, swine flu does not seem to have died off during the summer, she said, and older people seem to have greater immunity to swine flu than seasonal flu.
Hedberg said the projections of up to 40 percent of the population coming down with swine flu this winter is largely due to limited immunity among the population. Five to 20 percent of the population contracts seasonal flu in a typical year, according to the CDC.
?Every year is a bad flu year, because people die of flu every year in Oregon,? Hedberg said. ?That said, I do believe this coming year is going to be worse because fewer people have immunity, so more people will be coming down with this.?
The government has also recommended that doctors and nurses receive doses of both the regular seasonal flu vaccine and a swine flu vaccine, when it becomes available. The swine flu vaccine is expected to be available beginning in late September or early October, Hedberg said.
?The reason they get vaccinated is not to protect themselves from influenza ... but to protect their patients, particularly their patients with underlying medical conditions that might lead to severe complications,? Merlin said. ?This is something they do to further protect the individuals they are caring for.?
The Office for Oregon Health Policy and Research, a division of the Department of Human Services, is rolling out a data-collection effort to determine whether vaccinating medical staff helps minimize flu transmission at hospitals and clinics. Beginning in July, hospitals have been required to report how many of their employees are vaccinated against seasonal flu and swine flu, according to Research and Data Manager Sean Kolmer. The state should be able to release its findings by next summer, he said.
The state Public Health Division is encouraging hospitals to establish alternative entrances and waiting areas for patients with flu-like symptoms, Hedberg said, to avoid the transmission of swine flu or seasonal flu within the hospital.
?Hospitals themselves need to be thinking, don?t just say ?here?s the emergency room, everyone come in,? because you could easily get a person with the flu coughing next to somebody who?s there to get their laceration sewn up or their ankle fixed or their heart attack dealt with,? she said.
As with other businesses, hospital workers who experience flu-like symptoms should stay home from work, Merlin and Locke said repeatedly.
The CDC plans to release updated swine flu guidelines for hospitals by mid-September, Merlin said.
Keith Chu can be reached at 202-662-7456 or at kchu@bendbulletin.com.
Scott Hammers can be reached at 541-383-0387 or shammers@bendbulletin.com.
Update to federal guidelines comes on the heels of Bend woman?s death from virus
By Scott Hammers and Keith Chu / The Bulletin
Published: August 20. 2009 4:00AM PST
Swine flu now an epidemic in Japan
A federal official coordinating responses to the swine flu epidemic said the government is updating its guidelines for hospitals responding to the anticipated outbreak. Dr. Toby Merlin, deputy director of the influenza coordination unit for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke took questions in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday about how businesses should prepare for a new flare-up of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu. Projections from the CDC indicate up to 40 percent of the population may contract swine flu this winter.
The conference call comes less than a week after Central Oregon recorded its first swine flu-related fatality. Friday, 34-year-old Dawn Peck, a mother of three from Bend, died at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, where she apparently contracted the virus while undergoing treatment for leukemia.
Peck was diagnosed with leukemia in March and had recently undergone a bone marrow transplant. A spokeswoman for OHSU said a bone marrow transplant patient, like Peck, would have a suppressed immune system, limiting her body?s ability to fight off swine flu or other illnesses.
For hospitals, the key is separating people suspected of carrying swine flu from other patients, Merlin said, in response to a question by The Bulletin.
?The most important thing is to identify individuals who come into their facilities, be they patients or patients? families, or staff who might be ill, and for patients who might be ill with influenza-like symptoms, to encourage those patients to self-identify so they can be handled appropriately,? Merlin said.
Merlene Morris, the infections control coordinator for St. Charles Bend and Redmond, said both hospitals take extra ?droplet precautions? with patients with flu-like symptoms. The flu virus is transmitted primarily through droplets released when an infected individual coughs or sneezes. To avoid transmission, staff working with such a patient would wear a surgical mask at all times, Morris said, and the patient would wear a mask if he or she were being transported across the hospital.
?This has been the standard for several years, that when someone presents with flu-like symptoms, we automatically use the droplet precautions until influenza is either ruled in or ruled out,? Morris said. ?It gives us some time to sort out what might be going on with them.?
Morris said while she was not familiar with Peck?s case, individuals with compromised immune systems due to unrelated medical conditions are highly susceptible to all varieties of influenza.
Swine flu is little different than other strains of influenza in terms of its potential for transmission or in its severity, according to state epidemiologist Katrina Hedberg. Unlike seasonal flu, swine flu does not seem to have died off during the summer, she said, and older people seem to have greater immunity to swine flu than seasonal flu.
Hedberg said the projections of up to 40 percent of the population coming down with swine flu this winter is largely due to limited immunity among the population. Five to 20 percent of the population contracts seasonal flu in a typical year, according to the CDC.
?Every year is a bad flu year, because people die of flu every year in Oregon,? Hedberg said. ?That said, I do believe this coming year is going to be worse because fewer people have immunity, so more people will be coming down with this.?
The government has also recommended that doctors and nurses receive doses of both the regular seasonal flu vaccine and a swine flu vaccine, when it becomes available. The swine flu vaccine is expected to be available beginning in late September or early October, Hedberg said.
?The reason they get vaccinated is not to protect themselves from influenza ... but to protect their patients, particularly their patients with underlying medical conditions that might lead to severe complications,? Merlin said. ?This is something they do to further protect the individuals they are caring for.?
The Office for Oregon Health Policy and Research, a division of the Department of Human Services, is rolling out a data-collection effort to determine whether vaccinating medical staff helps minimize flu transmission at hospitals and clinics. Beginning in July, hospitals have been required to report how many of their employees are vaccinated against seasonal flu and swine flu, according to Research and Data Manager Sean Kolmer. The state should be able to release its findings by next summer, he said.
The state Public Health Division is encouraging hospitals to establish alternative entrances and waiting areas for patients with flu-like symptoms, Hedberg said, to avoid the transmission of swine flu or seasonal flu within the hospital.
?Hospitals themselves need to be thinking, don?t just say ?here?s the emergency room, everyone come in,? because you could easily get a person with the flu coughing next to somebody who?s there to get their laceration sewn up or their ankle fixed or their heart attack dealt with,? she said.
As with other businesses, hospital workers who experience flu-like symptoms should stay home from work, Merlin and Locke said repeatedly.
The CDC plans to release updated swine flu guidelines for hospitals by mid-September, Merlin said.
Keith Chu can be reached at 202-662-7456 or at kchu@bendbulletin.com.
Scott Hammers can be reached at 541-383-0387 or shammers@bendbulletin.com.