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Obama Declares H1N1 a National Emergency

MedpageToday

WASHINGTON -- President Obama has upped the ante in the battle to control the H1N1 flu by declaring it a national emergency, the second such declaration since the flu first emerged last spring.

The White House said the proclamation, which was signed late Friday, will allow public health agencies as well as doctors and hospitals to bypass certain requirements, but details about how that will transfer into clinical practice are not clear.

The proclamation notes that the declaration is a precautionary measure, "given that the rapid increase in illness across the Nation may overburden healthcare resources and that the temporary waiver of certain standard Federal requirements may be warranted in order to enable U.S. healthcare facilities to implement emergency operations plans."

At least one extraordinary step -- FDA permission to use the investigational antiviral peramivir to treat patients who are critically ill with H1N1 -- was also announced yesterday.

Last April, in the early days of the H1N1 outbreak, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, speaking for the administration, declared a public health emergency. That declaration freed up supplies of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) from the national stockpile.

At a press briefing yesterday, CDC director Thomas Frieden, MD, said that H1N1 has thus far claimed more than 1,000 American lives, a death toll that includes about 100 children. Moreover, 46 states are reporting widespead flu activity.