Mount Sinai doctors, nurses put on Tamiflu after H1N1 outbreak

An outbreak of Swine Flu at Mount Sinai hospital in Toronto has prompted doctors and nurses to start taking Tamiflu and all are getting their vaccinations, according to word from the hospital on Thursday morning.

TORONTO - Doctors and nurses working in the intensive care unit of Mount Sinai Hospital are being given antiviral medications and Swine Flu vaccination after an outbreak of Swine Flu. Spokeswoman Melissa McDermott said the ICU ward "has a cluster of three cases of H1N1 influenza in the adult Intensive Care Unit, which by definition is considered an outbreak." "We have instituted additional precautionary measures for patients and staff and physicians working in the ICU, including providing prophylactic antiviral medication and H1N1 vaccinations," she said in response to an emailed question. "Everyone is fine. The ICU remains open to support the care of critically-ill patients," she added. "Mount Sinai is operating as usual." Health care workers are being exposed more and more to the novel virus as the second wave of flu rolls through southern Ontario, B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan as well as the NWT. In B.C. 88 patients were taken to hospital this past week with 21 admitted to ICU from severe Swine Flu infection. Although B.C. has told doctors not to prescribe Tamiflu as a prophylactic, the manufacturer of Tamiflu suggests one pill a day to keep Swine Flu away. Still, it is a short term solution and people with underlying conditions are lining up for flu shots across the country.