RiverView Hospital and Clinics are reminding the public that they are not testing for the H1N1 virus in any of their clinics, urgent care service or in the RiverView Emergency Department. The decision whether to test someone in Minnesota is based on the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). “We are following the MDH’s guidelines and we believe they make good sense,” stated registered nurse April Grunhovd, Riverview Health’s Infection Control Coordinator. “By the time we would receive the test results back from the Department of Health, most people would be feeling better and the period of time where they are contagious would likely be over.” Instead the public is being told to stay home when they are experiencing flu-like symptoms and take precautions not to infect others. “Staying home and out of public facilities is going to be key to keeping the numbers of people infected within our community to a minimum,” added Grunhovd.

“The best thing a person experiencing flu symptoms can do for themselves and for their friends, family, fellow students or co-workers is to stay home and get better,” said Vicky Korynta, Chief Nursing Officer at RiverView Health. Symptoms of the H1N1 virus are a high fever, usually above 101 degrees F. and a sore throat or cough. Other symptoms may include runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people may have vomiting and diarrhea. People may be infected with the flu, including H1N1 and have respiratory symptoms without a fever. If a person is experiencing these, the CDC recommendations are to stay home from the time symptoms first appear until 24 hours after the fever is gone, without using fever reducing medication.

“Essentially we are asking that people follow the CDC guidelines first by staying home and taking care of themselves until they feel better,” stated registered nurse Amy Seaver, RiverView Clinic Nurse Manager. “If patients are worried about whether they can manage at home without medical attention, we encourage them to call their own family doctor to talk about how they are feeling,” Seaver added.

Information on treatment of symptoms is available on-line from the CDC’s internet website at www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/sick.htm.

RiverView Health Lifts Visitor Restriction

As of Friday, November 20^th, the visitor restriction that has been in place for the past month at RiverView Health in Crookston has been lifted due to the decrease in the amount of influenza like illness in the area.

Those with flu-like symptoms still should not visit hospitalized or care center patients.

RiverView Health Acquires New Rapid Test System for MRSA and Other Infections

“We now have a new test, known as Real -Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing, that gives us results to the presence or absence of MRSA in about 70 minutes,” stated Pat Fall, RiverView Laboratory manager. With the quicker test results, patients can now be treated with the most effective treatment within about an hour and a half. “This is a major benefit when dealing with surgical patients or patients at higher risk for MRSA, as we can rule out an infection almost right away. Until now, we have had to treat these patients as if they were MRSA positive just because we did not have the test results back.” In those cases, hospitals keep patients in isolation or use infectious precautions until they can positively confirm the patient does not have MRSA.

“It has been a difficult thing for our patients to understand,” stated Merleen Knott, inpatient unit supervisor. “They don’t understand that we need to treat them as if they have an infection when we don’t have anything that proves they do. Finding out if our patients are positive for MRSA or some other types of infections will now only take a matter of minutes, instead of days. It will be a major satisfaction boost for our unit,” Knott added.

Bacterial infections that do not respond to treatment with common antibiotics have been in the news a lot as of late. MRSA is a type of Staph bacteria that is resistant to many frequently prescribed antibiotics. Because of this resistance, MRSA can be difficult to treat and can lead to life threatening blood or bone infections if not treated properly. Many people carry MRSA on their bodies and do not have symptoms of infection. These people may never know they carry MRSA nor have any problems related to it. MRSA, however, can be significant for individuals undergoing surgical procedures or when admitted to the hospital, as risk for infection increases with a weakened immune system. Therefore, rapid identification of patients being admitted to hospital or having a surgical procedure can aid in decreasing the infection risk for the patient, and prevent the spread of MRSA to others. Fortunately, the new technology available in Riverview’s laboratory can identify carriers rapidly and if needed, precautions can be immediately taken to ensure the patients’ well-being and a decreased transmission risk to other RiverView patients and staff.

Other tests that can be performed using this new rapid test technology include Group B streptococcus testing in expectant mothers, and clostridium difficile toxins (c-diff) testing. H1N1 Influenza testing is expected to be approved by the FDA using this cutting edge equipment by early 2010.

For more information or questions regarding this new technology or MRSA testing, contact Pat Fall, RiverView Laboratory manager at 218-281-9423 or toll free 1-800-743-6551, extension 9423.