The 2009 A/H1N1 pandemic influenza and the nursing home

Seasonal and pandemic influenza clinically remain remarkably similar in long-term care populations. Clinicians cannot distinguish clinical influenza, whether seasonal or pandemic H1N1, from other respiratory viral infections in individual patients. Part of the difficulty in the clinical diagnosis relates to fewer clinical features that might help with diagnostic differentiation, such as fever. However, the nursing home provides an epidemiologic context that can prove helpful to clinicians who inquire--by considering illness patterns among others in the facility, both staff and residents. This can lead to more timely diagnosis and treatment in the resident, and prophylaxis--an opportunity to protect the remaining residents and staff. Check out the treatment guidelines posted on the CDC website to be sure to select the best agents, because antiviral resistance patterns have been rapidly changing.