Swine Flu Update In India

Santa Clara County Public Health Department
Swine Flu Update: April 27, 2009

Local Situation
At this time there are no reported cases in Santa Clara County. But since it is the role of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department to inform the public, medical community and other local agencies about a potential health emergency, and the current outbreak of swine flu poses a potential risk to the residents of this community, the Public Health Department has taken the following actions:

Activated the Public Health Department Medical/Health Emergency Operations Center, with the Health Officer and at least one Deputy Health Officer on-call at all times.
Has the Public Health Laboratory on alert over the weekend, making resources available to take specimens from local hospitals and physicians.
Participating in regular updates and conference calls with the CDC and the California Department of Public Health.
Conducting interviews with the news media to provide updated information to the general public.
Sent a Health Alert to Santa Clara County Hospitals, Emergency Departments and community physicians providing instructions for surveillance, collecting lab samples and procedures for sending in their samples.
Continues to monitor the situation locally, state-wide, nationally and internationally.

We know people are concerned about swine flu situation and we share that concern. At this early stage of this outbreak, there is a lot of uncertainty and the situation remains very fluid.

National Situation
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today provided the following update on the 20 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States:
California: seven (7) confirmed cases
Kansas two (2) confirmed cases
New York City, eight (8) confirmed cases
Ohio, one (1) confirmed case
Texas, two (2) confirmed cases

At this time, the cases in the United State have had mild symptoms, with the exception of one case that was hospitalized. All of these people have or are recovering.

Also today, the US Department of Health declared a Public Health Emergency in the United States. This means they have the ability to release resources, including the national stockpile of Tamiflu for treatment of confirmed swine flu cases. The US Department of Health emphasized that this declaration should be viewed as an early preparedness alert so that local jurisdictions and states can review their plans and put early preparedness efforts in place.

Currently, there are no travel restrictions to or from Mexico but it is anticipated that within the next 24 hour this will change and travel to and from Mexico will be restricted.

California Situation
The seven (7) California cases are located in Southern California:
Five (5) in San Diego County
Two (2 ) in Imperial County

All local California Public Health Departments are conducting active surveillance and continue to remain in communication with each other and the California Department of Public Health. Because of the release of the national stockpile of Tamiflu, California will be receiving 25% of our 5 million courses of treatment, which means 1.25 million courses.

International Situation
The international situation remains fluid. Currently, three nations have confirmed cases of swine flu: Mexico, Canada and the United States. Nations from New Zealand to Spain have also reported suspected cases. The numbers being reported for the situation in Mexico range from 943 to 1,300 swine flu cases, with anywhere from 20 possible deaths due to swine flu to 71 possible deaths.

Next Steps
With the growing concern about this situation, the Public Health Department is planning on taking the following actions this week.

Increase Active Surveillance by placing Public Health Department nurses at all SCC hospitals to assist the infection control staff and report findings quickly to the Public Health Department. We will also develop recommendations and guidance for SCC school districts and the San Jose International Airport specifically, and work with the Mexican Consulate to provide information to the farm worker community and others that may particularly at-risk.

Additionally, the Public Health Laboratory will continue to accept specimens and conduct preliminary tests on these specimens.

In the area of Public Information, we will continue to provide information to members of the news media. Key messages will include:
There is not any specific swine flu action people need to take
What you should do if you have flu symptoms
The importance of limiting the spread of disease and germs and what you should do (wash hands, cover cough, go to sccphd.org or ready.gov for more preparedness information).

Background
These cases of swine flu in humans raises concerns since it is a new flu virus for which people have little or no immunity. Since this is a new flu virus there is no vaccine. Swine flu virus regularly causes outbreaks in pigs but rarely affects humans. Occasionally there have been human infections of swine flu and there have been documented cases of a person spreading swine flu to others.

The symptoms of swine flu are very similar to regular seasonal flu symptoms. These symptoms include fever, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, head and body aches, lack of appetite and lethargy. With swine flu there may be additional gastrointestinal symptoms such as of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

For more information about swine flu see the attached flyer or , visit www.cdc.gov/flu/swine

For information in Spanish, visit http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swine/espanol/swine_espanol.htm