News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday posted updated proposed guidance for preventing pandemic H1N1 and seasonal influenza in healthcare settings, which relaxes some respiratory protection advice and stops short of recommending mandatory flu shots for healthcare workers.

Editor's note: This story was revised after initial posting to specify which arm of the CDC issued the statement described.

(CIDRAP News) – Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday rejected a contention from several professional groups that its guidance on respiratory protection for healthcare workers caring for H1N1 patients was influenced by a recent controversial study by Australian researchers.

A reanalysis prompted by reviewers has changed the conclusions of a study comparing N-95 respirators with surgical masks, raising questions about earlier findings that the N-95 devices were clearly more effective in protecting healthcare workers from respiratory illness.

(CIDRAP News) – The Institute of Medicine (IOM) today affirmed existing federal guidance that healthcare workers caring for H1N1 influenza patients should wear fit-tested N95 respirators, not just surgical masks, to protect them from the virus.

(CIDRAP News) – A task force of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), charged with making recommendations about how to protect healthcare workers against novel H1N1 influenza, today heard a variety of evidence that respirators and masks can shield healthcare workers (HCWs) and others from getting respiratory illnesses.