H1N1 flu -- latimes.com

November 4, 2009

Obesity puts swine flu sufferers at greater risk, study suggests

Obesity appears to be a risk factor on a par with pregnancy for developing complications from an infection with pandemic H1N1 influenza, according to the most comprehensive look yet at swine flu hospitalizations.

November 3, 2009

Shortage of flu vaccines leaves healthcare workers vulnerable

For more than a week, occupational nurse Janet Li-Tall has been giving the H1N1 flu vaccine to a short list of fellow healthcare workers at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. But she cannot get the coveted vaccine for herself.

October 30, 2009

CDC gives new swine flu numbers

Between 1.8 million and 5.7 million Americans caught pandemic H1N1 influenza this spring, as many as 21,000 were hospitalized, and perhaps 800 died, according to new estimates by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The revised numbers suggest that even larger numbers will become infected during this flu season.

October 29, 2009

Healthcare Q & A

Q & A: The New Swine Flu Outbreak

Federal officials Wednesday urged against panic and asked for patience as the government works to distribute the H1N1 vaccine and contain the spread of the virus. Here are answers to some common questions about H1N1, known as the swine flu, and the government's response to the outbreak.

October 29, 2009

Healthcare Q & A

Focusing on key swine flu issues

Federal officials Wednesday urged against panic and asked for patience as the government works to distribute the H1N1 vaccine and contain the spread of the virus. Here are answers to some common questions about H1N1, known as the swine flu, and the government's response to the outbreak.

October 28, 2009

L.A. County free H1N1 vaccine clinics overwhelmed

Los Angeles County's free H1N1 flu clinics opened last week amid public health officials' promises to aggressively vaccinate people at highest risk, especially the uninsured. Instead, overwhelmed clinic staff began vaccinating many people who were not supposed to be first in line for protection, officials said Tuesday.

October 23, 2009

Pregnant Women Skeptical of H1N1 Shot

As the H1N1 influenza vaccine trickles into clinics and pharmacies over the next few weeks, public health officials and doctors desperately hope that pregnant women will be at the front of the line for the shot. Past influenza pandemics have proved that they're at increased risk for severe complications -- and they appear to be even more vulnerable to this new flu strain.

October 23, 2009

Swine flu surges in California, but vaccine remains scarce

Many doctors' offices across the Los Angeles area are fielding frantic calls this week from patients demanding the swine flu vaccine, only to be told that none is available despite urgent warnings from the federal government that people need to be inoculated.

October 24, 2009

Flu-like illnesses now higher than at peak of seasonal flu season

Influenza-like illnesses are now higher throughout the country than levels generally seen at the peak of the seasonal flu season, federal health officials said Friday. But they dismissed media reports from a day earlier that 1 in 5 children had contracted swine flu during the first weeks of October.

October 22, 2009

CDC says flu predictions are often futile

Even with the government reducing its estimates for upcoming vaccine supplies and some researchers predicting that pandemic H1N1 influenza infections are peaking this week, federal health authorities have been emphasizing the unpredictability of flu viruses in general.