News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Patients with flu in hospital settings often produce small virus-containing particles during routine care that may travel up to 6 feet, casting doubt on whether current infection control measures are enough to protect healthcare workers, according to a new study.

(CIDRAP News) – More than 90% of sinus infections are caused by viruses and should not be treated with antibiotics, a common practice that can increase bacterial resistance to the drugs, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) said in new guidelines released today.

(CIDRAP News) – Although antiviral drugs were used to treat many seriously sick people during the H1N1 influenza pandemic, experts at a conference today said they could have been used more widely and that some opportunities to learn from their use were missed.

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza reports presented at the Infectious Diseases Society of America's (IDSA's) annual conference today shed light on a range of topics, including vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers (HCWs) and risk factors for hospitalization in small children.

IDSA members discussed their reports in a press teleconference today from the meeting site in Vancouver, B.C., and the organization also released abstracts online.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued new guidance for preventing flu in healthcare settings that reflects a year's worth of new information about the 2009 H1N1 virus and recommends surgical masks rather than N-95 respirators when providing routine care for flu patients.