ERs hustling to keep up with H1N1 cases
Danielle Dellorto
CNN Medical Producer
Nate Wordell, 7, just feels lousy: swollen eyes, cough, high fever, stomach ache and he's dehydrated. Nate has H1N1.
After toughing it out for three days at home, Nate's parents brought him to the emergency room at Children's Hospital Boston, Massachusetts. "The hardest thing for us was that we couldn't stay ahead of the medication or get him to keep any water down," says Nate's father, Michael Wordell of Auburndale, Massachusetts.
Hospitals from coast to coast are bracing for the influx of patients, just like Nate. Children's Hospital Boston has seen a 40 percent increase in patients this week alone.
"This could get pretty bad," says Dr. Anne Stack, clinical chief of emergency medicine at Children's Hospital Boston. "So we are trying to do as much as we can to prepare. But no one knows when it will end."
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Filed under: H1N1 |
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Smokers are also at very high risk for contracting H1N1. We have got to get more people to want to kick this habit!
It has been my experience that private physicians are recommending trips to the ER rather than have their staff check established patients for the H1N1 virus.
I wonder why schools aren't closed. We've learned that children are more vulnerable than other age groups. We know that we don't have enough vaccine to meet the demand at this time. Some parents are concerned about the side effects of the vaccine. Isn't closing schools an action simple enough for many of us to accept and be effective in preventing the spread of the disease?
I would not value academic success over my child's life.
Is it possible for a 7 week old baby to get the H1N1 if the parents have been vaccinated with the live virus form of vaccine?
Hopefully more vaccine will be available soon and perhaps it will stem the flood of new virus cases. I'm sure everyone would be relieved if that happened.
we need at least 200 million more made now