News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – More than 15,000 Canadians were hospitalized with pandemic influenza last year, thousands more than in a typical year, which prompted hospitals to cope by employing such steps as reducing the number of planned admissions, according to a report from a government-funded research institute.

(CIDRAP News) – On the second and final day of an Institute of Medicine (IOM) task force meeting on how to protect healthcare workers from the novel H1N1 virus, experts focused on issues surrounding the effectiveness and practical use of masks and respirators in work settings.

The IOM task force's goal is to make recommendations about how to protect healthcare workers during the H1N1 pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – A recently published survey of Europeans and Asians showed that, when faced with an influenza pandemic, most would avoid mass transit and limit shopping to essentials, and many would avoid other public places, including restaurants, theaters, and the workplace.

– TORONTO (CIDRAP News) – Ten years after H5N1 avian influenza first began to raise fears of a potential pandemic, the world has a stronger set of tools to contain that virus and similar threats, but also a fresh awareness of humanity's vulnerability to fast-spreading diseases, experts said yesterday at an international conference on flu.

(CIDRAP News) – The city of Edmonton, Alta., recently announced that it was stockpiling an herbal supplement in the hope of boosting the immunity of police, firefighters, and other essential workers during an influenza pandemic.

By buying a ginseng product from CV Technologies, Inc., a company based in Edmonton, the city has become the first in North America to add an herbal supplement to its pandemic stockpile, according to media reports.

(CIDRAP News) – Orlando, FL – Julie Gerberding, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), today challenged health and business leaders to stay focused on the "marathon" of preparing for an influenza pandemic.

Gerberding, speaking at a conference on business preparedness, said it's not possible to maintain high public interest in the pandemic threat indefinitely, but leaders must keep preparing anyway.

(CIDRAP News) – Putting an additional stressor, such as a flu pandemic, on an infrastructure that is already stressed and running at a stretched capacity merits great concern, said experts convening yesterday at a national summit on business planning for pandemic influenza in Minneapolis.