Arkansas taking steps to address swine flu

LITTLE ROCK Doctors and hospitals have been "flooding" the state Health Department with swab samples to be analyzed to see if they are possible swine flu cases, but no case has been confirmed in the state so far, officials said Monday.

Health authorities say Arkansans with flu-like symptoms should avoid contact with other people as much as possible isolation is the best way to limit the spread of the virus but consult with a health-care provider.

Dr. James Phillips, director of the state Health Department's infectious disease branch, said Monday that he believes there's a possibility the virus is already in the state. Phillips said testing of throat swabs taken from patients will soon reflect the degree to which the illness has infected people in Arkansas.

Phillips said someone with flu symptoms sore throat, fever above 100 degrees, body aches, cough, congestion, runny nose should call their health-care provider and see if an office visit is called for.

"We want them to stay home and not transmit the organism around the community," Phillips said. "If you go into your physician's office or emergency room and do have swine influenza, you are going to infect other people."

Health care providers "are the ones you don't want infected in the first place," Phillips said.

If the disease moves through Arkansas as Phillips expects, some people will likely have to be hospitalized. That's not a problem so long as the number of cases is moderate, but could become a problem if Arkansas develops a great number of cases, he said.

Planning has been under way for many years to cope with a sudden high demand for hospital rooms, Phillips said. Patients could be accommodated at gymnasiums and armories, which have the capacity to hold large numbers of people, he said.

"In reality, we do not have a lot of capability to expand the number of individuals hospitalized," Phillips. If it came to a situation where (there were) enough people with enough severe illness, we'd have to make other provisions (for hospitalization)," Phillips said.

Though the swine flu virus is being blamed for deaths in Mexico, no deaths have been attributed to the illness in the U.S.

Phillips said the mortality pattern could indicate that swine flu is widespread in Mexico and is no more deadly than any other flu strain.

"We certainly hope that turns to be the case here," Phillips said.

In most flu seasons, the very young and the elderly are most at risk of dying. One cause for concern regarding the swine flu outbreak is that deaths in Mexico City have occurred among people in age groups from their teens through their 30s. In the 1918 flu pandemic, that virus also claimed young people, a result that epidemiologists have attributed to the victims' immune systems being so robust.

"Those individuals who had the highest mortality rate were individuals who could muster the greatest response to the virus. The young and the old could not respond as vigorously," Phillips said.

Matt DeCample, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said the governor is getting updates from the Health Department and other state agencies, including the Emergency Management Department.

"Right now, we're letting the people in the Health Department do their work," DeCample said.

Last week, the Health Department sent an alert to state health-care providers to send swabs for testing. Only three had arrived as of Sunday, but the number grew sharply on Monday morning. The agency can test for three types of flu virus. Samples that don't match those types are sent on to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for testing to see if there is a swine flu match.

Phillips said "community mitigation" provides the best course to try to limit the spread of the virus. That would include covering a cough or a sneeze with a tissue, frequent hand-washing and limiting public gatherings. He noted that some soccer games last weekend in Mexico were played in empty stadiums. He also noted that the 1919 flu virus spread more rapidly in Philadelphia after a war bond rally there.

"We can't contain this organism because it is already in multiple locations," he said.

Beyond calling their health provider, Phillips said anyone who thinks they have the virus should take ibuprofen or acetaminophen for fever and drink plenty of liquids. Anyone under 18 years old should not take aspirin products because the neurological malady known as Reyes syndrome could develop.

"Pushing the liquids is very important," Phillips said.