Lyon County’s first person confirmed to have the H1N1 influenza A virus is at home recovering, and officials are waiting for lab results for some other possible cases, officials said this morning.
The first positive case, which was reported late Wednesday afternoon, was contracted in northwest Missouri around the Kansas City area, said Ann Mayo, director of environmental health for Lyon County. Officials are waiting for results from tests submitted by a private physician. Those tests came after some Lyon County residents were exposed to the virus in the Wichita area.
Mayo explained this morning that the procedure is how public health officers track the spread of a disease. Once a case is confirmed, that patient alerts officials to who he or she may have come in contact with. Those people are notified that they may have been exposed. If they show symptoms, they are urged to seek medical treatment and testing.
The H1N1 influenza A virus incubates about seven days before symptoms appear, Mayo said.
For now, Lyon County officials are working to track any possible spread of the disease. They’ve worked with the first patient to determine where contacts may have been made. So far, all tests are being submitted to the state for confirmation. Eventually, a in other counties, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment may stop requiring confirmation tests. That usually happens when there is evidence the virus has spread.
“When there are five or six cases who have not had direct contact, they declare an outbreak,” Mayo explained.
Combating the spread of this flu strain and recommendations for seeking treatment are no different than with other influenza viruses, Mayo said.
Precautions people should take to combat the spread of the flu include:
• Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer to get rid of most germs and avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
• Stay home when you are sick to avoid spreading illness to co-workers and friends.
• Cough or sneeze into your elbow or a tissue and properly dispose of used tissues.
• Stay healthy by eating a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water and getting adequate rest and exercise.Information from KDHE said the flu virus has been confirmed in a Lyon County adult.
In light of holiday gatherings planned to celebrate the Fourth of July this weekend, Mayo urged people to use common sense.
“There is no need to cancel anything,” Mayo said.
“What they need to do is, if they’re sick, they should stay home and be considerate of other people.”
Mayo also recommended that people in high-risk groups watch fireworks from home. Another option, given the number of places city officials have designated for parking, is to watch from a car. Those at high risk, Mayo said, include people taking chemotherapy, diagnosed with AIDS and having a chronic health condition.
“Pregnant women fall into that category, in my opinion,” Mayo said.
Although originally referred to as “swine flu,” the H1N1 influenza A virus is not spread through food. It cannot be contracted by eating pork or pork products, officials said.
The symptoms of H1N1 flu include:
• Fever greater than 100 degrees
• Body aches
• Coughing
• Sore throat
• Respiratory congestion
• In some cases, diarrhea and vomiting
Although officials originally were worried about a global epidemic of the H1N1 flu, Mayo said it has not been any more serious than most seasonal flu outbreaks.
“It’s not been as deadly as we thought,” Mayo said. “We lose about 30,000 a year in the United States.”
So far, KDHE has identified 133 cases of H1N1 influenza A virus in Kansas. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control are reporting more than 27,000 people who have contracted the disease as of June 25 and 127 flu-related deaths. Globally, the World Health Organization has logged 77,201 confirmed cases and 332 deaths in more than 110 countries, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
callalily (anonymous) says...
Even if it is "not as deadly as first thought," people ARE dying - and they are not in the same age groups as the people who normally die from seasonal influenza. H1N1 is proving to be the most deadly for adults between the ages of 30 and 50 years, as Margaret Chan (the WHO Director-General) said in her statement to the press declaring a world pandemic on June 11, 2009.
July 2, 2009 at 10:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )