BRIEF: Idaho health officials

Nov. 3, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- BOISE -- The Central District Health Department on Monday issued a reminder to health care providers that some patients with flu-like symptoms need prescriptions for anti-viral drugs right away.

If patients with the flu have underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes, anti-viral medications such as Tamiflu should be prescribed without waiting for results of tests to confirm H1N1 virus is the cause of their misery.

In the same alert, the health department also passed along information from federal health officials that said that the "overwhelming majority of persons worldwide infected with the new H1N1 virus continue to experience uncomplicated influenza-like illness, with full recovery within a week, even without medical treatment."

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