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When Hurricane Helene struck in late September, it flooded the largest IV fluid factory in the United States. The Baxter International facility in western North Carolina had been producing 1.5 million IV bags a day, 60 percent of the nation’s supply. The company immediately began rationing its products, and the shortage sent ripples through the health-care industry. IV saline and fluids with carbohydrates are used regularly in hospitals and other clinical settings, both for hydration and to deliver medications. The shortage has left facilities scrambling to figure out the best use of the IV fluid bags they have. But some...

Hospitals across the U.S. are taking steps to conserve their supplies of IV fluids after Hurricane Helene struck a critical manufacturing plant belonging to the country’s biggest supplier. Baxter International, a medical technology company responsible for making IV fluids for most U.S. hospitals, said Sunday that it would temporarily close production at its North Cove, North Carolina-based facility because of flooding from Helene, raising concerns about a potential nationwide shortage. [snip] There are four primary manufacturers of IV fluids in the U.S. Baxter is the leader, accounting for about 60% of the market. The company is the main supplier for...

SAN ANTONIO -- Hospitalized patients given IV balanced fluids instead of saline showed a roughly 1% decreased incidence of death and serious kidney injury, according to results of two studies that compared outcomes with the two widely used IV trauma therapies. The improved outcomes, seen in both critically ill and non-critically ill patients, suggest that largely replacing saline with balanced fluids in the hospital setting could result in significant mortality and morbidity reductions, said Matthew W. Semler, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, in a presentation at the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) annual meeting. The results...