U.S. hospitals hit with shortage of intravenous saline

Original Article

Why is there a shortage?

The most important question about this story and the article doesn't even get into why there is a shortage!

Is it because the supply has been disrupted? Or is it because demand has gone up, if so, how? Why only "U.S. Hospitals" ?

Personally, this is a very bad sign. Is the government buying up all the supplies in preparation for some doom?

reply to post by Cryptonomicon


From this article it says its because a spike in flu cases has caused the shortage.

A spike in flu activity has led to a shortage of intravenous (IV) solutions, particularly saline, which is used millions of times a week to treat dehydration and other flu symptoms, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced. Read more: Flu causes IV saline shortage, visitor restrictions at hospitals - FierceHealthcare www.fiercehealthcare.com... Subscribe at FierceHealthcare

www.fiercehealthcare.com...

FDA's Jensen said the agency is also looking into alternative sources, including overseas suppliers, to help address the shortage.

O boy.
How long might it be after the above happens, before something is discovered to be wrong with that supply?

I didn't realize it was that hard to make the stuff, for there to be such a shortage.

The article cited only an "increase in demand". USA Today goes into a little more detail:

USA Today Linky

The shortage is apparently due to increased demand for intravenous fluids over the last month because of a worse-than-average flu season, in addition to production problems caused by planned factory shutdowns over the recent holidays.

All the same, I wonder about the normality of a planned shutdown over the holidays. Obviously, you want to give your employees a break, but stopping production of such a critical item* in the middle of flu season seems a bit weird.

*Something in the range of 80-90% of all people admitted receive saline.

This is a pretty important product. It's used to fight low BP and dehydration. That must be a lot of flu cases. Or are people just overreacting due to the MSM fear mongering again?

There used to be 3 companies that made IV saline solution.

Now there is only 1.

Hospera.

BAD FLU SEASON.

My 17 year old daughter has been home from college this week with the flu.
It's running around the colleges and schools. Germ factories.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


Technically it was in the original article (though they could've updated it due to a possible oversight):

Manufacturers first notified FDA late last year that they expected delays in filling orders, but an increase in hospitalizations two weeks ago partly due to rising numbers of flu cases exacerbated the problem, she said.

So the manufacturers were reporting a delay in production and filling of orders but with the rough flu season currently upon us, it pushed it into shortage. However, no hospitals have reported outages yet, which is good.

Not a fan of the overseas vendors becoming involved either.

So far, no shortage here in Albuquerque

There is also a shortage of drugs used for "Death by Lethal Injection". I read two articles last week reporting that the drugs commonly used in executions are in very short supply, some states may bring back the firing squad and other states have switched to Dilaudid & Versed. You need saline to administer IV drugs used during Death by Lethal Injection. Is someone planning mass executions? Feel that one a minute.