I have been hearing a lot lately about this swine flu outbreak and thought might do some investigating to help me prepared at work. Below is a summary of what I found out.
Swine Flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses. It is spread by contact with infected pigs or environments contaminated with swine flu viruses and contact with a person with swine flu. It is highly contagious. The signs and symptoms are almost the same as having a seasonal flu with vomiting, diarrhea, fever, fatigue, chills, cough and sore throat. Well, ER nurses, I guess we have to contact isolate pretty much everyone who comes in with flu like symptoms, eh?
There is no vaccine for this yet, but there are several medicines that CDC has recommended to use. They recommend Oseltamivir or Zanamivir for the treatment/or prevention of infection. It can minimize the illness and helps recover faster.
As ER nurses, we have to be vigilant in teaching our patients how to minimize the spread of this virus, by teaching them the very basic of hand washing with soap and water. Cover the mouth when sneezing or coughing. And to stay at home when having flu like symptoms, including us.
There were documented deaths as caused by this infection. It existed before in the US. Now, it started in Mexico and spread in the US like in California, New York and Texas. I hope it will not spread in Arizona, but then it is a virus. So, ER nurses be prepared. Triage skills are very important.
Good information to get into is the Centers for disease control and prevention website.
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