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Category Archives: seasonal flu

May 5, 2009

More on MRSA and the new flu

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Constant readers, I admit it: I am a bad blogger. The wave of news on the novel H1N1 (AKA the Virus Formerly Known as Swine) has been just overwhelming. Apologies for disappearing. Out of the crashing surf, though, I picked up an interesting tidbit that speaks to our concerns about MRSA. Here’s some background: If you [...]
Written by Maryn McKenna
Also posted in H1N1, MRSA, pandemic flu, pigs, pneumonia
December 9, 2008

More on MRSA pneumonia, flu and ER delays

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Folks, yesterday I posted the very sad story of 39-year-old Robert Sweitzer of Tucson, who died of MRSA pneumonia after being triaged to an 8-hour wait, in an overcrowded emergency room, during the height of flu season. As a follow-up, I want to emphasize that while necrotizing pneumonia may seem an unusual circumstance, there is one [...]
Written by Maryn McKenna
Also posted in ERs, MRSA, flu, health policy, hospitals, influenza, pneumonia
December 8, 2008

It’s flu season: Watch for MRSA pneumonia.

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Via the (Tucson) Arizona Daily Star, I’ve just caught up with the very sad story of Robert Sweitzer, a Tucson resident who died on his 39th birthday, of MRSA pneumonia. Sweitzer died last Feb.10, but his name is in the news now because a lawsuit filed by his wife Rachel against the hospital where he died [...]
Written by Maryn McKenna
Also posted in ERs, community, death, hospitals, influenza, medical errors
September 29, 2008

The importance of MRSA in a flu pandemic

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Constant readers will know that, in another part of my life, I write a great deal about seasonal and pandemic influenza, a subject I’ve been following since writing the first story in the American media about avian influenza H5N1 (in August 1997; find it on this page.) And people concerned about MRSA realize that flu and [...]
Written by Maryn McKenna
Also posted in MRSA, antibiotics, avian flu, death, flu, history, influenza, pandemic flu, pneumonia
March 10, 2008

Cautionary tale: Unintended consequences, ripple effects

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New story by me, up at the news website of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, where I am a contributing writer. It’s on flu, not MRSA, but it contains lessons that apply to MRSA too. Gist: This flu season turned out unexpectedly badly, with physicians across the country saying offices and ERs are [...]
Written by Maryn McKenna
Also posted in MRSA, influenza, pandemic flu