August 13, 2009
New guidance released August 6 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that patients with influenza-like illness should stay away from others for 24 hours after their fever is gone, whether or not antivirals were used. Fever is defined as a temperature of 100° Fahrenheit or 37.8° Celsius or greater. The previous recommendation called for individuals to stay home a full week.

The new exclusion guidance applies to schools, camps, businesses and other community settings, but not to health care settings, where the recommendation continues to advise individuals to remain home for seven days from symptom onset or until 24 hours after resolution of symptoms, whichever is longer.

More stringent guidelines and longer exclusion periods may be made at the community level, however.

Read the complete revised guidance at www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance/exclusion.htm.