Story Archives of 'Influenza'

A dramatic surge in swine flu cases in 46 states prompted President Obama to declare the pandemic a national emergency over the weekend. The first batch of H1N1 vaccine arrived in New Hampshire earlier this month, but dosages fell short of covering the priority populations of young children, pregnant women, and professionals who work with high-risk patients.

A national shortage of vaccines, combined with the media frenzy surrounding H1N1, has prompted some less than reputable companies to release counterfeit flu cures.

Think swine flu shampoos, fake doses of Tamiflu, even machines that claim to shoot flu-stopping protons through the body. The Food and Drug Administration is teaming up with the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on sketchy swine flu products. Alyson Saben is Deputy Director of the FDA’s Office of Enforcement and leader of the agency’s H1N1 Consumer Protection Team.

The Los Angeles Times: FDA cracks down on Internet sales of swine flu 'cures'

H1N1 Fraudulent Products

Health officials are estimating that as many as a third to a half of all Americans will get the H1N1 flu this year.
Typically, it’s the very young and the very old who are at greatest risk for the seasonal flu.
But H1N1 is different.
Young adults up to the age of 24 are among those at greatest risk for this new strain.
And that means colleges and universities are already trying to ward off an onslaught of illness.
NHPR’s health reporter Elaine Grant has more.

The media has been full of stories about the new influenza strain that seems to be emerging.

Nearly 150 people in Mexico have died from the new swine flu and dozens of people in three other countries, including the US, have become sick.

Here in New Hampshire, no case has come to light, but state health officials are working hard to prepare in case it does.

Dr. Jose Montero is the State's Epidemiologist.

He tells NHPR's Mark Bevis that the world may be in the beginning stages of a new flu pandemic, but we just don't know yet.

So Montero urges caution.

It's every parent’s flu season conundrum: keep ‘em home, or send ‘em to school? If you have a school-age child under your roof, chances are you’ll face the choice this winter... if you haven’t done so already.

So what to do when winter’s calling cards - the runny nose, scratchy throat and scary-sounding cough - afflict a kid near you? The decision can weigh harder on some parents’ shoulders than an overstuffed bookbag. For advice, we turn to Dr. Perri Klass. She’s a pediatrician, as well as a professor of journalism and pediatrics at New York University and the mother of three.

Perri Klass in the New York Times: The Cough-and-Sniffle Question: When to Keep a Child Home? | reader comments

New York Times: The Claim: Never Blow Your Nose When You Have a Cold

(Photo courtesy SewPixie via Flickr/Creative Commons)

You may have heard about the Norwalk Virus.

It's a nasty little bug that seems to like to stalk cruise ships.

The media tend to jump on stories about an outbreak on a cruise ship with images of sick and disappointed vacationers returning to harbor.

But the Norwalk Virus group, called the norovirus, lurks among us on shore too.

Several nursing homes across the state have suffered outbreaks.

And studies show the virus, for some reason, appears to be more common than it was a decade ago.

NHPR correspondent Diane Finch has this report.