NORTHAMPTON, MASS., December 16, 2005 - An early national shortage of flu vaccine has created anxiety for everyone hoping to avoid the illness this winter. Distribution delays and inadequate vaccination supplies combined to add stress to the holiday season as flu shot clinics are sometimes cancelled and available vaccinations are reserved for the populations most at risk. Concern over a possible avian flu pandemic has also contributed to the anxious climate this flu season. In the United States, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from influenza complications and about 36,000 people die from flu each year.

To bring up-to-date flu information to its audience of millions of health information seekers, Healthcommunities.com, Inc., has launched fluchannel.com. The new website offers reliable information about where to find a flu shot clinic, flu vaccines, flu symptoms and treatment, avian flu (bird flu) symptoms and transmission, and an explanation and history of flu pandemics. Browsers find it helpful when condition-specific articles are available in one location. The aggregated flu information on fluchannel.com ensures ease of use. "Our research shows that millions of people are online each month at this time of year looking for flu information," said Stanley J. Swierzewski III, M.D., a practicing physician and the founder of Healthcommunities.com. "Those numbers make providing accurate, timely flu prevention information to our readers a priority for us." Fluchannel.com is the newest of the company's 23 health-related websites (e.g., neurologychannel.com, healthinfochannel.com, seniorhealthchannel.com) that give consumers relevant, reliable condition and treatment information.

Healthcommunities.com, Inc., a privately held company founded in 1998, serves health care consumers searching for reliable information. Healthcommunities.com is a Physician Developed and Monitored™ collection of online communities providing information and resources to consumers and patient education website services to health care providers.