>>Tamiflu approved for Canadian babies

Canadian infants under one year old who are sick with the flu may receive the antiviral drug Tamiflu, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced Thursday under new swine flu pandemic guidelines.

The Public Health Agency of Canada prepared the interim guidance to help doctors treating infants with influenza-like illness during the H1N1 pandemic.

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“Although there are limited data supporting the use of Tamiflu in children under one, there now exists an urgent need for recommendations to treat this population, given this group’s increased risk for morbidity and mortality from influenza,” the agency said on its website.

Full Article: here.

>>Flu pandemic planning underway

Many businesses in Canada developed plans following the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002 and the emergence and spread of the avian flu, and those have been pulled from the shelves and dusted off since the swine-flu outbreak started in late April.

Those plans are now being tested and companies are determining how they can be applied to the swine-flu pandemic that has made more than 10,000 Canadians sick.

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Bell Canada, for example, a company that has had two employees confirmed with swine flu, started developing a pandemic plan about three years ago and activated it in the spring when swine flu began to emerge. Adjustments, however, had to be made.

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Communication with employees is central to all the plans, said Michelis, and to that end Bell has been keeping staff up-to-date through internal e-mails and a pandemic website. It has also put up posters in company washrooms about proper hygiene and provided hand sanitizers. The company plans to host flu-shot clinics in the fall for its 42,000 employees.

Bell’s business is designated by the government as part of the country’s critical infrastructure and, as such, the company must have an emergency management plan, under which its pandemic plan falls.

Full Article: here.

Tags: h1n1, news round-up, swine flu

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