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(CIDRAP News) – Though the nation is going into its second wave of the H1N1 pandemic armed with crucial improvements such as better vaccine capacity, remaining challenges in medical surge and vaccine distribution could hamper response now and into a third wave, preparedness experts said today.

(CIDRAP News) – The first 600,000 doses of pandemic H1N1 vaccine—all of them the nasal-spray formulation—are on their way to 25 states and major cities and should arrive by Tuesday, Oct 6, matching earlier predictions, federal health officials said today.

Oct 1, 2009

We face real uncertainty about the future of the H1N1 pandemic. No one knows today if the virus will mutate or reassort into a more effective killer or cause milder illness over the next 4 to 6 months. Even if the genetic makeup of the virus remains unchanged, the days ahead will not be easy.

Sep 30. 2009 (CIDRAP News) – As pandemic flu activity picks up speed across the nation, groups that serve older adults are shoring up plans for both seasonal and pandemic flu vaccination and are preparing backup plans in case absences hit key services such as Meals on Wheels, government officials and senior groups said today.

Sep 30, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – The current public health advice that Americans should get their seasonal flu shots early this year has prompted some to voice concern that their protection will fade later in the season. But medical literature and disease experts indicate there is no good evidence that immunity conferred by the shots wanes so quickly.

(CIDRAP News) – While there is evidence that the live nasal-spray vaccine for seasonal influenza works better than injectable vaccine in children, the injectable vaccine was found to be more effective in a trial in close to 2,000 young adults, according to a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

(CIDRAP News) – As more pregnant women enter hospital delivery rooms sick with pandemic H1N1 flu, health professionals and their patients are struggling with some of the elements in federal guidance—such as having patients wearing masks during labor—that will soon be revised, experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

Sep 29, 2009

Zambian district bans social gatherings

Editor's note: This story was revised Sep 29 to correct a detail about when pneumonia cases were diagnosed.

(CIDRAP News) – The pandemic H1N1 virus is spreading widely through the United States, and as health officials feverishly prepare to distribute the first vaccine doses due to arrive in early October, the public should expect some initial bumps in the road, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

Sep 25, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – While antiviral-resistant H1N1 influenza viruses remain rare, clinicians should watch for two particular kinds of H1N1 cases that seem more likely to give rise to viruses resistant to oseltamivir (Tamiflu), the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Business officials who attended a conference this week on how the business world can cope with the H1N1 influenza pandemic said employee absenteeism was far and away their leading concern.

In live polling conducted during a conference plenary session, 81% of the attendees said their greatest concern about the pandemic was absenteeism. Only 13% said they were most worried about disruption of critical supply chains.

(CIDRAP News) – Canadian researchers reportedly have found as-yet-unpublished evidence that people who had a seasonal flu shot last year incurred a higher risk of H1N1 infection, but US and World Health Organization (WHO) officials say they are not aware of any similar findings elsewhere.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today scaled back its estimate of how many doses of pandemic vaccine that producers will likely make over the next year and said it hopes to gather enough vaccine donations to cover about 10% of developing countries' populations.

Sep 24, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – On the final day of a business preparedness summit in Minneapolis, a panel of experts emphasized having clear, open communication with employees as well as having flexible plans—lessons they learned from being on the frontlines in Mexico and the Southern Hemisphere during the spring novel H1N1 outbreak.