2 nursed die of H1N1

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Specializes in ER, Urgent care, industrial, phone triag.

The California Nurses Association say that two nurses have died already form H1N1 Flu. This is incredibly disturbing and frightening.

I wonder how many nurses have died of Healthcare acquired/work related MRSA? This is a known epidemic and pandemic and yet hospitals, their associations and medical associations choose to keep it hidden in the dark infection control data archives of their hospitals.

The difference between the two....both are easily spread in the community, but over 85% of MRSA is healthcare related. I guess that means we have to keep it a secret instead of recognizing it as an epidemic (19,000 dying every year, almost 100,000 infected).......and dealing with it effectively.

I continue the fight here in Maine...and it is a fight. I participate as a consumer (although I am a licensed RN in here) in the Maine Quality Forum and the meetings are uncomfortable at best. Hospitals do NOT want the real numbers of MRSA out there, nor do they sincerely want to make change to prevent MRSA. They are still housing infected patients with uninfected patients. We are not in the dark ages. Any alert patient knows they have been put at risk when this happens.

This is a battle and we must win it.

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Specializes in Too many to list.
The California Nurses Association say that two nurses have died already form H1N1 Flu. This is incredibly disturbing and frightening.

I wonder how many nurses have died of Healthcare acquired/work related MRSA? This is a known epidemic and pandemic and yet hospitals, their associations and medical associations choose to keep it hidden in the dark infection control data archives of their hospitals.

The difference between the two....both are easily spread in the community, but over 85% of MRSA is healthcare related. I guess that means we have to keep it a secret instead of recognizing it as an epidemic (19,000 dying every year, almost 100,000 infected).......and dealing with it effectively.

I continue the fight here in Maine...and it is a fight. I participate as a consumer (although I am a licensed RN in here) in the Maine Quality Forum and the meetings are uncomfortable at best. Hospitals do NOT want the real numbers of MRSA out there, nor do they sincerely want to make change to prevent MRSA. They are still housing infected patients with uninfected patients. We are not in the dark ages. Any alert patient knows they have been put at risk when this happens.

This is a battle and we must win it.

I am a little confused, Mammy. You seem to be writing about two different diseases although they can both occur in the same person. I believe we know about the first California case in the marathon runner nurse. She had both MRSA and swine H1N1, I think.

This would not be so surprising as a deep lung infection with influenza would leave a host severely immuno-compromised. It is not unusual for swine flu victims in critical care to have secondary infections.

Can you provide a link to your source that we could look at? I very interested in info on the second death in a HCW that you are referring to. I am tracking cases in HCW, and I have not read of this other case in California.

Thanks for your information.

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Specializes in ER, Urgent care, industrial, phone triag.

YOu may contact the CNOC. They have the information. I was told of this today by a Maine delegate of the CNOC.

I am talking about two infections.

I am astounded that so much is being done to track and prevent H1N1 and nobody even recognizes MRSA as epidemic. We are trying to avoid an epidemic of H1N1 and everybody is involved at the Federal level and at the State level

And yet, MRSA is already epidemic and nobody will recognize it as such and throw the same preventative and efforts at it to control MRSA.

So, it was a comparison. Both infections are a threat to healthcare workers and healthcare consumers.

We need to fight the same battle against MRSA as we are fighting against H1N1.

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Specializes in ER, Urgent care, industrial, phone triag.

I'm sorry, it is the CNA/NNOC that you may contact. The information came to me from one of their delegates.

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Specializes in Too many to list.

Thank you for clarifying.

Here is a link to science writer, Maryn McKenna's blog. She tracks MRSA , and is actively working on her book about this organism.

http://drugresistantstaph.blogspot.com/

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