Our new H1N1 awareness web presentation will give you a healthy start in 2010
There's more to know about the H1N1 virus than most people may realize. So we want to give our clients and their employees the best shot possible for good health in 2010 with this important H1N1 awareness web presentation.
With the New Year here, our clients can help their employees get off to a healthy start by taking a few minutes to view our new H1N1 web presentation. It's designed to help employers learn more about the illness so they can arm the workplace with valuable tools for prevention and be better protected if an outbreak occurs.
Take a look - here's what you'll learn
In the presentation, Dr. Sam Nussbaum, our Executive Vice President of Clinical Health Policy and Chief Medical Officer, provides a detailed overview of the H1N1 virus, explains the vaccines, discusses how to be prepared if an outbreak occurs at the workplace and much more. The presentation is extremely user friendly; viewers can easily jump around from section to section to focus in on what they want to hear - on what's most important to them.
About the Flu from FLU.GOV
Flu refers to illnesses caused by a number of different influenza viruses. Flu can cause a range of symptoms and effects, from mild to lethal.
Two strains of flu, seasonal flu and the H1N1 (Swine) flu, are currently circulating in the United States. A third, highly lethal H5N1 (Bird) flu is being closely tracked overseas.
Most healthy people recover from the flu without problems, but certain people are at high risk for serious complications.
Extensive efforts are underway to track and monitor the spread of all flu viruses. In the U.S., epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are working with states to collect, compile and analyze reports of flu outbreaks. More on the current situation.
Flu symptoms may include fever, coughing, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headaches, body aches, chills and fatigue. In H1N1 (Swine) flu infection, vomiting and diarrhea may also occur.
Annual outbreaks of the seasonal flu usually occur during the late fall through early spring. Most people have natural immunity, and a seasonal flu vaccine is available. In a typical year, approximately 5 to 20 percent of the population gets the seasonal flu and approximately 36,000 flu-related deaths are reported.
This year, the H1N1 (Swine) flu virus may cause a more dangerous flu season with a lot more people getting sick, being hospitalized and dying than during a regular flu season. H1N1 (Swine Flu) is a new virus first seen in the United States. It is contagious and spreads from person to person. Like seasonal flu, illness in people with H1N1 can vary from mild to severe.
A flu pandemic occurs when a new influenza A virus emerges for which there is little or no immunity in the human population; the virus causes serious illness and spreads easily from person-to-person worldwide. On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that a global pandemic of H1N1 (Swine) flu is underway.
H5N1 (Bird) flu is an influenza A virus subtype that is highly contagious among birds. Rare human infections with the H5N1 (Bird) flu virus have occurred. The majority of confirmed cases have occurred in Asia, Africa, the Pacific, Europe and the Near East. Currently, the United States has no confirmed human H5N1 (Bird) flu infections, but H5N1 (Bird) flu remains a serious concern with the potential to cause a deadly pandemic.
August 26, 2009
H1N1 Flu Update
Up to half the U.S. population could come down with the H1N1 (swine) flu, as many as 1.8 million could end up hospitalized, and 90,000 could die in the coming flu season, according to a dire report released yesterday from the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Those numbers are in some cases double the estimates for the annual flu season.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) continues to closely monitor the situation and will provide regular updates concerning any potential impact to the services we provide to employers and members. The company is ready to respond if the outbreak impacts any of our customer service areas, and has put our own emergency response measures in place to protect our employees.
We encourage employers to take similar measures now and throughout the flu season to help protect the health of their employees, regardless of the size of their workforce. Among those suggested by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are:
• Advise all employees to stay home if they are sick until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius) or signs of a fever (have chills, feel very warm, have a flushed appearance, or are sweating). Make sure fever is gone without the use of fever-reducing medicines (any medicine that contains ibuprofen or acetaminophen).
• Employees who get sick at work should go home as soon as possible. If the employee cannot go home immediately, he or she should be separated from other employees.
• Encourage sick employees at higher risk of complications from flu to contact their health care provider as soon as possible. Taking antiviral medicines early might prevent severe complications from the flu, such as hospitalization or death.
• Encourage all employees who want protection from flu to get vaccinated for seasonal flu. Also encourage employees who are at higher risk for complications from 2009 H1N1 flu to receive the vaccine when it becomes available. People at higher risk for 2009 H1N1 flu complications include pregnant women and people with chronic medical conditions (such as asthma, heart disease, or diabetes). For more information about priority groups for vaccination, visit www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/acip.htm.
• Provide resources and a work environment that promotes hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes. Provide tissues, no-touch trash cans, hand soap, and alcohol-based hand cleaner. Offer education on hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes in an easy-to-understand format and in appropriate languages.
• Clean surfaces and items that are more likely to have frequent hand contact with cleaning agents that are usually used in these areas. Additional disinfection beyond routine cleaning is not recommended.
• Provide information to employees overseas about what to do if they become sick.
We encourage you to continue to rely on the resources and useful information about dealing with a flu outbreak provided by the CDC, World Health Organization and the Texas Department of State Health Services Web sites. The CDC has created a comprehensive toolkit of materials employers can use in the workplace to promote prevention, and to help them prepare for and respond to an outbreak impacting their workforce. Go to www.pandemicflu.gov/index.html to find tools businesses can use.
