Health Care Friday

• From the WaPo:

  The long quest to reform the nation's health-care system entered uncharted legislative territory early Friday when a key Senate panel wrapped up work on its bill and House and Senate leaders prepared for historic floor debates.

  The regular season is over, and the playoffs are starting.

• TheFatLadySings interviews Jeff Bingaman here.
• From the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, Say 'yes' to health reform is a national campaign to feature individuals in favor of preventing chronic disease. Health reform isn't just how about much the insurance companies get.
• Donald McNeil in the NYT:

  Swine flu is now widespread across the entire country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday as federal health officials released Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began taking orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine.

  Also, as anecdotal reports and at least one poll showed that many Americans are nervous about the vaccine, officials emphasized that the new shots were nearly identical to seasonal ones, and said they were doing what they could to debunk myths about the vaccine.

  CDC weekly updates (Friday by noon) can be found here.

• David Brown in the WaPo:

  In a reminder that the new strain of H1N1 influenza may not be as benign as originally thought, federal health officials reported Thursday that 100 pregnant women infected with the virus were hospitalized in intensive care units in the first four months of the outbreak, and 28 have died.

• Hartford Courant:

  Depending on how widespread and how severe it becomes, a swine flu
  pandemic could pose challenges that hospitals have rarely, if ever,
  seen. So far, hospital officials say, the illness has largely been an
  outpatient issue, something that most patients can recover from without
  even visiting the doctor. But they have plans in case it gets worse.

  A report released Thursday suggests that those plans could be especially
  important for Connecticut hospitals.

• What's your excuse?

  
  5 top reasons for not getting a flu shot examined by Consumer Reports

  1. Excuse: "I want to build natural immunities." (63 percent)

  Reality: This was the top reason respondents gave for not getting a seasonal flu vaccine last year. Among those who are unsure if they will have their children vaccinated this season, 69 percent said they wanted to build their children's natural immunities. That's somewhat understandable but misses the most important aspect of immunity—avoiding disease. When your body encounters a virus or a vaccine, it creates antibodies that help fight the disease, and the ability to call on those antibodies provides protection after the flu is gone. Vaccines result in the production of the same antibodies that an infection does without the substantial risks that come with disease.

  "I can't imagine anything more tragic than a parent exposing their child to a disease and to subsequently have their child develop a life-threatening infection," says William Schaffner, M.D., chairman of preventative medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn., and president-elect of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. "Exposing oneself to a 'wild' infectious agent exposes you to a risk of potentially serious consequences. It may be a small chance but believe me, it's real. You don't know that your child, or you, won't be one of the people to develop a grave infection."

• For protection against flu:

  Surgical masks may be just as good as N95 respirators for protecting healthcare workers against the flu, according to a randomized clinical trial whose findings conflict with the only previous study.

  CDC is expected to revise their advice next week.