by In recent news, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just issued new guidelines to help in the prevention of flu in healthcare settings. These guidelines reflect a year worth of information about the 2009 H1N1 virus.One new recommendation is the use of surgical masks rather than N-95 respirators when providing routine care for flu patients.Interestingly enough, the new guidelines do not support mandatory flu immunization for health care workers, as some medical groups such as SHEA, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Academy of Pediatrics have done recently. Rather, the CDC stops short of recommending this measure, while highlighting the elements of programs that can raise health care workers vaccination rates. They include the ideas of providing incentives, offering free vaccines, having a systematic approach, and communicating in a timely way to health care workers.As usual, the CDC did include the caveat that their guidelines will change as they receive new information.
