Hat-tip AlexWyatt on the HCW thread:
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20091012/NEWS01/910130354/
OH:
Local paramedic has H1N1 flu
By Eric Bradley • ebradley@enquirer.com • October 12, 2009
DEERFIELD TWP. - A paramedic in the Deerfield Township Fire Rescue Department has H1N1 influenza and has been placed on medical leave, the township announced Monday.
The paramedic was not named and it was unclear how the individual was tested for H1N1. A confirmed case of H1N1 would test positive for the strain’s subtype or for Type A influenza, which is assumed to be H1N1 flu during this time of year.
Deerfield officials sought to allay any public concern there might be about an emergency medical responder contracting the virus.
“The health and welfare of our citizens is, and will always be, our topic priority,” said Deerfield Fire Chief Chris Eisele in a statement. “We will continue to implement the safety protocols already in place to ensure that every firefighter, EMT and paramedic who responds to a citizen is free of illness.”
Government-mandated safety protocols implemented by the department included promoting strategies for infectious disease control and prevention, establishing internal surveillance and tracking systems to monitor worker health and ensuring availability of infection protective equipment to reduce the risk of exposure.
The apparent infection of a paramedic comes at a time when the vaccine mist for H1N1 is being distributed to health care professionals, who are considered to be at higher risk of infection.
More than 1,500 deaths from H1N1 have been reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ohio has reported five H1N1 deaths.
OH:
Paramedics first to get H1N1 vaccine mist
By Peggy O’Farrell • pofarrell@enquirer.com • October 12, 2009
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091012/NEWS01/310120053
A Blue Ash paramedic was among the first Greater Cincinnati residents to be vaccinated against H1N1 flu today.
Health-care workers, paramedics and EMS personnel are first in line for the vaccine as it begins rolling into the region. Hamilton County Public Health received 4,000 doses of FluMist vaccine Friday for distribution to local fire departments.
Health-care workers are high-priority for the vaccine because they’re at higher risk for being exposed to H1N1 and because they’ll be needed to care for the sick as the virus continues to spread, said Stephen Bjornson, medical director of Hamilton County Public Health.
In Ohio, paramedics and other EMS workers are also being trained to administer the vaccine.
“About two-thirds of our department have already been trained,” said Assistance Chief Chris Theders of the Blue Ash Fire Department.
Theders administered the vaccine to Kevin Murphy, a firefighter paramedic in Blue Ash. The county health department’s 4,000 plus doses were distributed to fire departments Friday and Monday.
Murphy said he might already have been in contact with people infected with the new flu strain.
“We’ve already been in contact with it, we think, when we’ve gone out on calls,” he said.
H1N1 is widespread in 37 states, including Ohio and Kentucky. Public health officials are asking Americans to be patient as H1N1 vaccine becomes available.
The first doses of vaccine will go to those at highest risk for the flu strain, including health-care workers with direct patient contact; people 6 months to 24 years old; parents and caregivers of babies younger than 6 months; pregnant women; and adults 25 to 64 with underlying health problems.
Health officials will start scheduling school vaccination clinics as soon as they have enough vaccine, Bjornson said.
“We’ve got about 93,000 school-aged children in Hamilton County, and if 60 percent of them consent to be vaccinated, we’re going to need quite a bit of vaccine,” he said.
FluMist is recommended for healthy people ages 2-49. The nasal spray uses a weakened, live virus, while injectable vaccine uses a killed virus. There is a very slight risk FluMist could give someone the flu, Bjornson said.
This year, children 9 and younger will need to get two doses of H1N1 vaccine, and health officials recommend everyone get vaccinated against both H1N1 and seasonal flu. H1N1 vaccine will not protect people against seasonal flu, and seasonal flu vaccine won’t protect people against H1N1.
In other H1N1 developments:
• The Northern Kentucky Health Department could get its first doses of injectable vaccine this week, said spokeswoman Emily Gresham Wherle. The shipment will be “very small,”she added, just like the shipment of FluMist the department received last week. Wherle estimated this week’s shipment would cover less about one-half of 1 percent of the approximately 385,447 people served by the department.
• The Cincinnati Health Department has upgraded its flu hot line. Callers to the 513-357-7499 phone number now get a voicemail recording that lets them request general information about treating flu, information on who should get the vaccine, school vaccination schedules or the chance to talk to a nurse with specific questions.
• The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported more than 1,500 deaths from H1N1. Last week, 19 flu-related pediatric deaths were reported, including 16 confirmed H1N1 tests. Ohio has reported five H1N1 deaths, including a 14-year-old Columbus area boy who died from the virus last week. Kentucky has reported five H1N1 deaths, all in adults. Lexington health officials reported Monday that a 60-year-old woman had died of the disease.
• Stephen Blatt, vice president of Infectious Diseases Consultants of Cincinnati, Inc., and medical director for infectious diseases with the TriHealth health-care network, will discuss H1N1 and pandemic flu in a 7:30 p.m. presentation Thursday at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Registration: Clara Matonhodze, 513-287-7230 or cmatonhodze@cincymuseum.org.