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Mono County health officials prepare for flu epidemic |
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Thursday, 30 April 2009 |
By Stacey Powells
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
“The Swine flu virus, which is attacking people all over the world, is so antigenically different than the human H1N1 component in this year’s vaccine that it probably won’t be helpful,” said Dr. Rick Johnson, Public Health Officer for Mono and Inyo County.
There is concern that the world is on the brink of the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years as new cases in Canada, New Zealand, France and Hong Kong have sprung up over the weekend.
To date, 20 infections have been confirmed in the United States and federal health officials have declared a public health emergency.
Mexico has been hard hit, closing all public schools and cancelling hundreds of public events in Mexico City.
“It has the potential to be a pandemic because cases in at least four countries have ‘lab confirmed’ that it was the Swine flu, but what we don’t have is the severity of cases enough to call it a pandemic,” said Johnson. “Mexico is the only country reporting serious conditions so to call it a pandemic will be premature.”
Johnson said that a lot of information is being gathered which will be out in 3-5 days.
Johnson is asking that people who have been to Mexico in the last month and have gotten sick within seven days of coming back self report to health departments in both counties so they can talk to them about their illness.
“We need to see if they will be candidates to get the swab, which will confirm what kind of flu they have,” Johnson said. “We don’t want them to go to the ER or their healthcare provider if they get sick. They need to call us. They should stay home, not go to work or school, wash their hands and cover their mouths when they cough.”
Johnson said that the main thing this week is to try and figure out if the Swine flu has reached into Inyo and Mono counties.
“We need to get tests of people who have had illness consistent with the flu and have been to infected areas outside this country,” Johnson said. “We’re talking about people up and down 395 who go to Mexico to visit family, for spring break or to do church projects.”
A move to ban travel to infected countries could be put into effect through the World Health Organization (WHO) because of the emergence of the flu in several countries.
If necessary, the Center for Disease Control will release from the national stockpile some 12.5 million doses of the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Felenza which scientists say has been effective so far against the H1N1 swine flu virus.
A flu pandemic occurs when a new flu virus emerges for which humans have little or no immunity and then spreads easily from person to person around the world. In the 20th century there were two mild flu pandemics, in 1968 and 1957, and the severe “Spanish flu” of 1918, which killed an estimated 40-50 million people worldwide. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 07 May 2009 )
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