May 4 Swine Flu Update from State Emergency Response Team

www.doh.state.fl.us  

1-800-342-3557

TDD:  1-800-226-4329

Hotline open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

May  4, 2009; 10:30 a.m.   

New Information

Florida has  five confirmed cases;  two in Lee , one in  Broward, one in  Orange County , and one in Pinellas.   

The  second Lee County confirmation is a  7 year old male  who attends Spring Creek Elementary School.  The Pinellas County confirmed case is 24 year old male.  

Alachua,  Lee, Charlotte, Indian River, Okeechobee,  and Clay  have one probable case  each.  Palm Beach  has two probable cases and Miami Dade has three.  Hillsborough County has five probable cases.

A public health emergency was declared by the State Surgeon General.

A toll free information line has been established to address an increasing number of calls from the public requesting Swine Flu information. The number is  1-800-342-3557 and it is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m

Current Situation

Samples are being received by Florida Department of Health Laboratories for analysis from physicians and hospitals across the state.

The Department of Health continues enhanced surveillance and outreach to physicians, hospitals and other health care professionals. The surveillance system, consisting of sentinel physicians reporting influenza activity, DOH laboratories receiving specimens from physicians and hospitals and our ability to monitor emergency room cases and over- the-counter drug sales is fully operational. We have activated our response plan and are ready to respond to any cases of swine flu if it should occur. 

Department of Health continues its enhanced surveillance with a network of Sentinel Physician Providers.  These providers send selected samples of laboratory specimens to state laboratories for testing if they have patients with influenza like illness (ILI).  These physicians also continue to report weekly ILI cases to the Department of Health.

Anti-virals have been pre-positioned to areas of potential need.  We have over one half million individual courses.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported  226 confirmed cases of novel influenza in the United States, with one death in a twenty-three month old.

The World Health Organization (WHO) alert level remains at Phase 5.  The declaration of a Phase 5 is a strong signal that the pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.

Participation in Centers for Disease Control and other national conference calls will continue.

Precautions

The State Surgeon General provided these recommendations:

People with respiratory illness should stay home from work or school to avoid spreading infections, including influenza, to others in the community.

• Avoid close contact with people who are coughing or otherwise appear ill.
  
  
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
  
  
• Wash hands frequently to lessen the spread of respiratory illness.

People experiencing cough, fever and fatigue, possibly along with diarrhea and vomiting, should contact their physician.

If you think you have influenza, please call your health care provider and discuss whether you need to be seen in their office, emergency department or stay home.

Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food and a person cannot get swine influenza from eating pork products.  The infections appear to spread from person to person. 

The Florida Department of Health has created a webpage with information at www.doh.state.fl.us , and the CDC has a web page at www.cdc.gov/swineflu

BE SMART, BE SAFE, BE A SURVIVOR! Go to www.FloridaDisaster.org today to create a personal or family disaster plan.  All students, teachers and parents can find educational information and free downloadable materials at: www.KidsGetAPlan.com .

Written by :

mkwestmark

 

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