Articles: pandemics.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Influenza virus contamination of common household surfaces during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in Bangkok, Thailand: implications for contact transmission.
Rational infection control guidance requires an improved understanding of influenza transmission. We studied households with an influenza-infected child to measure the prevalence of influenza contamination, the effect of hand washing, and associations with humidity and temperature. ⋯ We documented influenza virus RNA contamination on household surfaces and on the fingertips of ill children. Homes with younger children were more likely than homes of older children to have contaminated surfaces. Lower absolute humidity favors surface contamination in households with multiple infections. Increased hand washing can reduce influenza contamination in the home.
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The failure of life-critical systems such as mechanical ventilators in the wake of a pandemic or a disaster may result in death, and therefore, state and federal government agencies must have precautions in place to ensure availability, reliability, and predictability through comprehensive preparedness and response plans. ⋯ The authors present and describe the AGILITIES Score Ventilator Triage System and provide related guidelines to be adopted uniformly by government agencies and hospitals. This scoring system and the set ofguidelines are to be used iA disaster settings, such as Hurricane Katrina, and are based on three key factors: relative health, duration of time on mechanical ventilation, and patients' use of resources during a disaster. For any event requiring large numbers of ventilators for patients, the United States is woefully unprepared. The deficiencies in this aspect of preparedness include (1) lack of accountability for physical ventilators, (2) lack of understanding with which healthcare professionals can safely operate these ventilators, (3) lack of understanding from where additional ventilator resources exist, and (4) a triage strategy to provide ventilator support to those patients with the greatest chances of survival.